I WON'T GO HOME WITHOUT YOU
by MrsSuperman93
Summary: Future-verse. Nineteen years on, and the truth comes out...
1. Hurricane Victoria

"_To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power..._" - **Maya Angelou** (b. 1928)

* * *

Earth rumbled underneath their feet, the walls appeared shaken as Hurricane Victoria wreaked havoc on the Hampton coast line and Grayson Manor bore the brunt of her force. Rain drizzled down the window panes, thunder growled in the distance and flashes of white momentarily brightened the dismal, grey skies.

"You look more miserable than the weather does," Emily Grayson humorously commented to Daniel, as they relaxed on the sofa, and her legs overlapped his.

"Yeah," Daniel murmured, as he sipped his coffee.

Neither had bothered to mention the irony in the name of the most recent hurricane. It was more than appropriate when they considered the date. Nineteen years, on this day, had been the downfall of the Grayson clan. His mother had been killed in a suspicious plane explosion, Charlotte had died from an overdose and his father prepared himself to finally face the consequences for his actions.

She noted her husband's spirits had been sombre all day, though she knew why, she decided not to confront it. "They say it should pass within 24 hours," Emily informed him. "I think it must be the worst storm we've had for decades."

Daniel's eyes wandered around the room. Memories were raw for him, reminders of his family were constant, and it was when these storms hit and forced him to take shelter in his childhood kingdom, that he found the hardest. "It'll pass soon." He raised himself off of the sofa, "I think I'll do some work in the office for a couple hours."

"Okay," Emily kindly took his still-full coffee from him and watched him wander into the office and close the doors.

She had learnt, from years of experience, that Daniel needed time to be alone on this anniversary. Sometimes, so did she. Her words of comfort to him – _"I do know how you feel,"_ – had often been dismissed, but she really did know. Charlotte had been her sister as much as his, and Emily had never been able to shrug off the guilt she had been plagued with since Charlotte's overdose. Sometimes, she even felt sorrow for the loss of Victoria. It was hard not to, especially when she had discovered Daniel's mother had almost been as much a pawn as her father had been. But, thanks to Nolan, the evidence had sent Conrad and his associates to prison for their crimes and Emily had been able to move on.

The phone distracted her attention and Emily set aside both cups before she answered it, "Emily Grayson?"

"Hey, Ems," Nolan's voice replied.

"Nolan," Emily rolled her eyes. It had become somewhat of a tradition for them to reminisce on the past on this very day, almost a throwback to the older days, which were far behind them.

"Hurricane Victoria, huh? Ironic, isn't it?" His smartass tone had never changed, even after nearly twenty years.

She could picture him in his fortress on a cliff, most likely terrified of the storm that brutally raged over them. Nolan never had been one for storms. Apparently, it was one of those childhood issues that countless therapy sessions couldn't cure. Emily wrapped the blanket over her lower body, "Paranoid much," she sipped her coffee.

"Just in reflection mode," Nolan snapped in retaliation.

"Seems to be contagious," Emily muttered, as she eyed the doors of the home office.

"Don't tell me there's trouble in paradise?" Nolan gleefully asked, almost in anticipation. Much to his disappointment, Daniel and Emily had married and their union had lasted much longer than anyone could predict it would have done. In fact, against his better judgement, he and Daniel had forged a _friendship_, if it could be called such, and Nolan regularly spent the holidays and annual events with his extended family, the Grayson's.

"Daniel's barely spoken two words to me all day," Emily confessed.

"Has he been to their graves?" Nolan checked.

Annually, Daniel had made sure to visit his mother and sister's graves. Authorities had claimed Victoria and Lydia's bodies had been far too damaged to identify, but Charlotte's body had been laid to rest next to her biological father and the headstone was in memory of both mother and daughter. "Not yet," Emily answered. "I don't think he will."

Nolan paused for a moment, before he asked, "Have you?"

A few tears threatened to fall and Emily heavily inhaled a deep breath. Nolan was the only one in the world to appreciate how great the loss of Charlotte was for her, and the only one to know that she regularly visited her sister's grave on her own. "No, I haven't." And she hadn't made plans to visit it. She sighed in disappointment, it would be the first year that she hadn't bothered, but her concern for Daniel seemed to overtake her routines.

His solemn voice replied, and it comforted her, "I'm sure _she_ would understand." Of course, Charlotte would understand. Many underestimated Charlotte's capabilities, after her addiction came to public spotlight, but forgiveness and her ability to empathise was one of her greatest strengths. Emily knew Charlotte would have understood.

"Listen, Nolan, I want to check in on Daniel," she disrupted the conversation. "I'm worried about him." She tossed aside the blanket and stood from the sofa, "I'll call you later, okay?"

Emily wandered toward the home office and knocked, before she entered to find Daniel with his eyes focused on the bottle of Scotch, and the filled glass beside it. He acknowledged her presence with deadened eyes, before he returned them to the bottle once more. She silently closed the doors and wandered behind him, where she draped her arms around his neck and rested her chin on his shoulder for a second. It wasn't the first time she had found him in this state of undecided conflict, and it saddened her that, even after years of maturity, Daniel struggled with his addiction. Though his problem had never reached a life-threatening point, at least not since they had met, Emily found it fair to call him an alcoholic.

"Why don't you pour me one?" She offered.

His eyes flickered between her and the bottle before he slid the glass across the desk, "Why don't you have that one?"

Relief seared in her veins and she tenderly kissed his cheek, "I love you." She climbed into his lap and rested her cheek on his shoulder as he buried his face in hers, and the storm continued to roar just outside the trembling walls.

After the silence became unbearable, Daniel reached for the family photograph on his desk, "Look at us." The six faces beamed back at him; himself, Emily and their four children.

Only one year into their marriage and Charlotte had made an appearance into their lives. Named after her deceased aunt, Charlotte even looked like her namesake. At eighteen, she had left home to study law at Yale but kept in regular contact and always spent her summer in the Hampton's. Then came Sophia, a black-haired, green-eyed daddy's princess, who was, without a doubt, the reincarnation of Victoria. She had the smarts and business-sense to run Grayson Global, if she chose such a path. Several years later on, twelve to be exact, Emily produced two healthy unisex twins, Jacob and Hannah.

"Quite the family," Emily chuckled.

"Hey, I'm home." The voice of their second eldest child echoed from the hall.

Daniel and Emily rushed out to the hall, where Sophia Grayson appeared, drenched and ice cold. "Baby, you're soaked." Emily ran a hand over her daughter's raincoat and became overwhelmed with maternal concern, "I'll find you a towel. I think there's still some coffee in the pot, if you feel like you need a warm drink."

As her mother raced upstairs, Sophia slithered out of the raincoat and smoothed a hand through her jet black strands, which had knotted in the rain. "You'll be lucky if you don't fall ill," her father remarked. "Where have you been anyway?"

"With Chris," she answered.

He couldn't prevent the eye roll that followed her response. Chris, the only son of Jack and Amanda Porter, had managed to sweep his seventeen year old daughter off her feet, much to Daniel's disapproval. Ironically, he had always promised himself he would never interfere in his children's relationships, after the damage his parents had caused him, but he couldn't accept Chris, no matter how much it meant to Sophia. "And you were with him yesterday?"

"Yeah," she confirmed. "I planned to wait the storm out but the weather station said it could be like this for the next 24 hours so I decided to just come home. I'm sorry if I worried you," Sophia kissed her father's cheek.

"Sophia," Jacob and Hannah raced downstairs to their older sister.

"Hey, guys," she ruffled their heads. "I'll be able to cuddle lots soon, just let me dry off first, okay?"

"They missed you for movie night last night," her mother returned with the towel. "We watched Lion King and someone," Emily aimed her statement at Daniel, "Snored all the way through it." She watched Sophia dry off her hair and folded her arms across her chest, "How was your date with Chris? Six month anniversary, right?"

"It was lovely," Sophia reported, "He cooked dinner for me. His parents were out of town for the weekend."

"Mommy, can we watch a movie?" Jacob nervously asked.

"Movie night was yesterday, sweetie," Emily reminded him, with a gentle smile back.

"But daddy fell asleep," Hannah frowned, as she pulled on her father's arm. "And Sophia wasn't home so it didn't count."

Emily exhaled in defeat, "Well…"

Her youngest children rushed towards the television and started to pick their favourite movies as Sophia ran upstairs to change into some dry clothes. "Mommy, can we watch Lion King number two?" Hannah raised two fingers to show she could count on her own. Her mother nodded and Jacob helped her push the DVD into its slot.

As the DVD registered, Sophia reappeared with her hair scrunched back and dressed in her comfort clothes. "Hey, dad, did you and mom make it to aunt Charlotte's grave today?" She checked, as she cuddled on the sofa with Jacob on her lap and Hannah on her fathers. Emily poured herself another cup of coffee as she listened in, "Because Chris and I did plan to make it there but the road was closed off by the time we decided to brave the storm."

"Not today," her father replied.

"Oh," Sophia pursed her lips, uncertain how to reply.

"Have you shown your father the picture Chris drew?" Emily probed, as she sat down next to Daniel.

"Oh, yeah," she reached for her purse. "He compiled this for me as an early anniversary present last week." She passed her father the sketch drawing of their family, which included the six of them and also his parents and Charlotte beside them. Her father found himself speechless, "He drew me from memory, but I showed him pictures of grandpa, grandma and aunt Charlotte for it," she confessed.

"Who's that?" Jacob pointed to the older woman in the sketch.

"Grandma," Daniel calmly explained to his son. His children had met his father, in prison. They had all been regularly told stories of their aunt Charlotte but his mother had rarely come into conversation. "You haven't met her because she's up in heaven with aunt Charlotte," he informed.

"What was grandma like?" Hannah looked intrigued.

"She was…" Daniel deeply exhaled, "Well…" His eyes darted to Emily for some kind of life raft, but knew only he should answer such a question. "Grandma," Daniel looked out the window, "Was a hurricane of sorts." And that much was solid truth. Anyone who had ever encountered Victoria Grayson knew for themselves, the woman was a force to be reckoned with, not only that. She was a force of nature.


	2. Infinity x Infinity

**A/N:** Warning #1; I don't often write authors notes. It's obviously a personal choice but, for me, I feel it interrupts the story. I don't mind if others do it, because I like to hear the writers thoughts, but I don't feel comfortable when I write my own, which is why I don't often write them. HOWEVER, I would hate for reviewers to feel like I'm ignoring them - so just to let you know, I'm not! - I read every review and I love getting them so thank you, and keep R+R-ing!

Warning #2; I'll always make mistakes. It seems like no matter how much I read over what I've written, someone always picks up on something. Just to confirm the mistake made in the previous chapter - which I've now corrected - Charlotte is the oldest, Sophia is the second oldest.

Warning #3; There will be flashbacks that are set after the events of "Reckoning" to show you how Daniel and Emily became married, created a family and spent 19 years together without Emily's secret coming out. It will include Nolan, Ashley, Jack and Fauxmanda but, obviously, the main focus is on Daniel and Emily. Oh, and by the way, the Story Image I've chosen (Lucy Hale, _Pretty Little Liars_) was deliberate. She has the kind of look I had in mind for Sophia Grayson, who will feature quite prominently in the story once it unfolds a little bit more.

I think... that's about it. Hope everyone enjoys :D

* * *

"_The more you love, the more love you have to give. It's the only feeling we have which is infinite._" – **Christina Westover**, Precipice

* * *

Daniel wearily knelt down and ran his fingers over the names carved into the headstone. He placed a bunch of forget-me-nots at his mother and sisters' graves, not because they were their favourite flowers; it was more of an assurance that they would never leave his heart, even if they had been taken from his world for so many years.

"Sorry they're late this year," he murmured. "The roads were blocked off with the recent storm." His eyes trailed to his mother's name on the headstone and a fond smile evolved onto his lips.

Stood behind him, Emily paid her own silent respects to her father's grave with watery eyes. Even after all these years, and the justice she had demanded for him, his loss never felt fair to her and she continued to mourn him. When Daniel slowly returned to his feet, Emily snapped her eyes away from the headstone and placed a supportive hand on Daniel's back. "Are you ready to head home, babe?"

His eyes fluttered to her in reluctance. Whenever they visited here, Daniel could become so wrapped up in the past, and sometimes she did, which was why Emily did all she could to make them brief. He nodded, "Yeah."

Arm-in-arm, they started back to Emily's Porsche until Daniel pulled back, to look once more at the graves. She had learnt from experience, Daniel hated to walk away, and leave them there, _cold_. With a softened pull on his arm, Emily managed to sway him further and she reached for the car keys in her pocket, which opened the car doors. Once they climbed in, she started to switch on the engine but faltered, and turned to him. "I'm sorry," she softly muttered. Somehow, this year had seemed more difficult than any other and Emily was disturbed by the unusual coldness she received from him.

Daniel eyed her suspiciously, "What for?"

"For my part in whatever emotions you feel right now," she confessed. "For the tension I caused between you and your family before _it_ happened…" her voice trailed off, and she looked him in the eyes. "How do you feel?"

He raised his head and replied, "Guilty."

Emily could relate to that. She deeply inhaled and exhaled a breath, "Do you remember what I said to you, after Charlotte died?" Her eyes probed him, but Daniel returned a blank expression. She touched his cheek, "That your love for her, and her love for you, will never ever end. It can never be broken, Daniel."

Her husband's eyes brightened with recognition, "Infinity times infinity."

**(FLASHBACK)**

_Ashley's hands gripped the wheel. When Daniel received the hysterical call from his father, she had insisted that she drive him to the hospital. Never mind the fact that her bra currently hung by one clasp, or that Daniel continued to button his shirt on the drive there, they needed to reach Conrad and Charlotte._

_"Someone needs to call my mother," Daniel had magically sobered, since Conrad's call._

_"I'll try and contact her once we're there," Ashley assured, as the news station on the radio reported some kind of freak plane accident, the volume not loud enough to relay any details._

_She sped her way to the hospital, with a silent prayer that they wouldn't be stopped. Once they reached the Southampton Hospital, Daniel jumped out the passenger side and raced into the ER family room, where his father waited with Nolan Ross. He frowned, unable to understand the man's presence, but chose to ignore him as he approached his father with a plea for information. A touch on his father's shoulder brought him back to earth, "How's Charlotte?"_

_Conrad stood shakily, barely able to stand on his own. In the previous hours, he seemed to have aged ten years. "Daniel, I found h-her, in her bedroom. She'd taken a bunch of pills," his father attempted to explain. "I don't kn-know why –"_

_Before much more could be exchanged, Emily appeared, "Daniel."_

_He still seethed from her betrayal, and stood. "What the hell is she doing here?"_

_"I called her here, immediately after I called the ambulance. I expected her to have been with you," Conrad had scraped his energy enough to respond. He turned to Emily, "Did the nurse at the desk say anything about Charlotte?"_

_"A doctor's on the way down with news on her condition," Emily confirmed._

_In the same instant, Ashley raced into the entrance and into Daniel's arms. "Is there any news yet?"_

_Emily almost choked, as she witnessed Ashley wrap her arm around Daniel's waist. Her eyes snapped to Nolan, who was just as bewildered, yet Conrad didn't seem to notice in his concern for Charlotte's health. She swallowed hard and forced a response to leave her throat, "The doctor's on his way down."_

_"Charlotte Grayson's family?" The doctor appeared, which broke the conversation as Emily tried to reconcile what kind of conversation had bonded Ashley and Daniel so closely. She looked at the surgeon, still dressed in his scrubs, but Emily was much too focused on the remorseful expression he wore. In that moment, she realised. "I'm afraid Charlotte's condition has become much too severe to be successfully treated. We tried to pump her stomach, but her organs have slowly shut down. She's lost consciousness and we don't expect her to be able to breathe alone much longer, at least, not without support from hospital equipment." He motioned, "If you wish to say your goodbyes."_

_Conrad straightened his form, "I'd like to see her."_

_Emily watched him follow the doctor, and noticed Daniel had frozen still. She stepped forward, "Daniel?"_

_He flinched backwards, first away from her and then from Ashley. He stumbled backwards, just far enough to collapse on one of the chairs against the wall. Emily noticed Ashley prepare to comfort him and prevented her, "Ash."_

_Restrained by Emily's hold on her arm, Ashley allowed the blonde to sit down next to Daniel and looked at Nolan, who motioned for her to come with him. Once Ashley and Nolan disappeared, Emily cautiously placed her hand on his, "I'm so sorry, Daniel." He didn't move, but she pleaded with him. "Let me be there for you, please."_

_"She's d –" he paused, "Dead. Gone."_

_"Maybe she is," Emily nodded, "But she'll never leave here." Her hand slid from his hand to his chest, before the same hand reached for her own heart, "Or here." It was on the same hand that her tattoo appeared, and she reflected on their first conversation. "Remember?" He acknowledged the tears in her eyes, before his attention fell to the symbol marked on her wrist, "Infinity times infinity," she slipped her arms around his neck, just to hold him, and repeated the words he had spoken when he first noticed the symbol, "That's a long time."_


	3. The Reckonciliation

"_The pattern of the prodigal is; rebellion, ruin, repentance, reconciliation and restoration._" – **Edwin Louis Cole**

* * *

From the balcony of Grayson Manor, Emily watched her twin children scream in delight as Sophia and her boyfriend, Chris, chased them around the beach. She smiled to herself, as the memories of her own sacred childhood flooded back.

"Sophia and Jack Porter's son," Emily shook her head, "Who would have believed it?"

"I can assure you, the irony's not lost on me either." Daniel placed both hands in his pockets. It didn't make him feel comfortable to see his daughter with the son of Jack and Amanda. History had proven, a Grayson and a Porter didn't mix well. In fact, a Grayson with anyone other than a Grayson didn't mix well. "When will she be home?"

"Soon," his wife assured him. "She's okay, you know?"

"I just don't trust him." He confessed, and this much Emily knew already. She rubbed his back, "She's old enough to take care of herself now, remember? Have some faith." But, somehow, Emily knew her words wouldn't make much difference. Daniel had never trusted Jack, nor Amanda. And if she were honest, they never really had worked out the issue or her minor betrayal with Jack before they had been married, which was why Emily was certain that Daniel couldn't obliterate the memory from his mind.

**(FLASHBACK)**

_Emily kissed his cheek tenderly, "Thanks for the ride home, Nolan."_

_"You're welcome. D'you need some company?" He offered, with the kindest smile he possessed._

_She shook her head, "No, thanks. I just need some time alone." Emily climbed from his car and clasped her black purse. Her hair held into a bun, rested just underneath the black mini-hat and the small veil covered her face just enough to ensure nobody could witness her tears as she attended Charlotte and Victoria's funeral. "I'll call you." Once Nolan backed out the driveway, Emily turned to her childhood summer home and noticed the hunched over figure on the porch. She narrowed her eyes and studied it to be certain, before she called for him, "Daniel?"_

_His head raised slowly. She wandered toward him, and her heart broke as she made a mental note of the near-empty bottle next to him. His eyes were bloodshot, his words were slurred, "I didn't know where else to turn."_

_"Everyone was worried about you when you disappeared," Emily informed him, as she took her place next to him._

_"I needed to get out of there." He confessed._

_"Have you been here all this time?" Emily checked, and Daniel nodded. He needed space. Peace. Silence. The church, no matter how large it had been, had suffocated him. Words of comfort tormented him, Ashley had smothered him with affection, and his father had remained unbearably silent. "Come on in."_

_Daniel looked at the doors, uncertain. It occurred to him, that the last time they were here, it had been over for them. In all the madness that had ensued, he had almost forgotten their break-up and Emily's betrayal, "I don't know –"_

_"Come on, Daniel. Come inside and have a drink," Emily proposed._

_His eyes widened, "You mean, you're not going to try and wrestle the bottle away from me?"_

_She snorted and motioned to the bottle beside him, "Cavalry's a little late for that, don't you think?" She tossed her keys between fingers and opened the front door for him, "You're the one who came here, Daniel." Emily wandered inside and reached for two glasses from one of the boxes that were stacked around the room. Once he followed her in, she motioned to the temporary feel of her home, "Sorry about the boxes."_

_"Going somewhere?" Daniel asked._

_"I made plans to leave when we –" her voice faltered._

_"You mean, you didn't have plans to move in with Jack?" He checked, abruptly._

_Emily rolled her eyes, "You know me better than that, Daniel. Besides, I couldn't leave, not after Charlotte and your mother…" She passed him the glass she had filled with Scotch, "I knew you needed me."_

_His eyes narrowed in suspicion, "You stayed here for me, even after the things we said to each other?"_

_She tilted her head, and cradled the glass between her palms, "What happened with Jack was momentary. A moment of weakness," Emily perched on the arm of the sofa, "I should have told you about it, and I'm sorry. Trust has always been of importance to you; that's why I returned the engagement ring to you. But I'll always love you, Daniel." The emotion of the moment, not to mention the previous week, overwhelmed Daniel and he let the tears water his eyes. She reached for his hand and squeezed it in hers, "I'm not asking you for forgiveness, Daniel. I just need you to know that I'm here for you, as a friend or whatever you need. Just let me in…"_

_"I'm sorry," Daniel broke down, and the tears rolled freely._

_"It's okay, it's okay," she curled her arms around his chest, relieved to finally comfort him._


	4. 19

"_I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out._" - **Roy Croft**

* * *

"Ooh…" Sophia entered the kitchen, "Special occasion?"

Her mother threw a scowl at her sarcasm. "I hope you've made plans to make yourself scarce tonight. However, don't think I'll be too busy basking in my happiness of 19 years that I won't notice if you don't come home," she warned.

Rather amused by her mother's surveillance skills, Sophia rolled her eyes, "Relax, mom."

"Mmm…" Daniel appeared, home from work. He kissed his wife on the cheek, and leaned over her shoulder to identify the bowl of pasta she continuously stirred to boil, "I am…" his mouth drifted to her neck, "Starved."

"Ermm, okay…" her eyes widened, and Sophia wrinkled her nose. "I'm on my way out." She leaned in between both of her parents, "Happy anniversary," she congratulated them each with a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be home by 12. And I have my cell, in case of emergencies," Sophia added, to console her father.

"Whoa," Daniel frowned, "What are your plans, anyway?"

His eyes fell upon Sophia and she innocently replied, "Just dinner with Chris… and his parents," she muttered.

Daniel and Emily shared a look of concern. Emily lowered the heat on the pasta and frowned. As Daniel looked ready to cause an argument, Emily decided to step in, "The Porter's invited you for dinner and you didn't think to consult your father and I beforehand?" The tension between the two families had never been truly discussed, but Sophia knew better than to believe her parents would simply accept it. "Honey, you really should have asked –"

Sophia looked incredulously, "Why?"

"Because we're your parents," Daniel reprimanded.

"Or because you could have stopped me, because you know Chris and I are serious," she challenged.

"We still can," her father countered.

"Really?" Sophia dared him, fearless of her father's threat to discipline her. "And we all know why, don't we?" She shook her head and scoffed, "The only problem you have with Chris, is that his father almost destroyed your relationship with mom. Well, maybe you need to move on. Ever heard the expression, get over it?" Daniel's face fell, shocked.

Her mother soon intervened, "Okay, that's it. Sophia," Emily pointed to the front door, "Out. Home by 12." Too frustrated to reply, Sophia snatched her jacket from the kitchen counter and stormed out the house. An awkward silence fell between husband and wife and Emily returned her attention to the pasta. "Charlie called at 5," she informed him. "She wished us a happy anniversary, and reminded me that she would be home for mid-semester next month. I think she tried to call you at the office before she phoned here," Emily added.

Mid-composure, Daniel nodded, "The phones have been off the hook all day. Damn it…" he exhaled.

She attached herself to his side and rubbed his back, "She'll cool off, and so will you."

He exhaled, as if to blow off steam. "Not exactly the _happy_ anniversary we had planned, huh?" He released Emily from his arms and reached for the flowers set beside his briefcase, "Here, I bought these for you."

Emily smiled happily, "Aww, honey." She kissed his cheek, "Well, I can't say things have ever gone as planned for us now, have they?" Her husband couldn't prevent himself from a light laugh as she countered his previous statement. She ran a hand across his cheek, "But I kind of like it that way," she confessed. "It's unpredictable. Natural."

"Do you –" he stopped.

"What?" She tilted her head.

"Do you ever wonder," Daniel asked, "What would have happened if we didn't marry?"

She frowned, "Is this because what Sophia said about Jack?"

His eyes pierced her, "Just answer the question." He pleaded, as he reached for her hand and began to play with her rings. "Do you remember what you said to me the day you broke off our engagement?" She looked confused, "You told me, you loved me _despite _the Grayson name and that you weren't really the person I fell in love with." Daniel looked curious, and he moved in, "What did you mean?"

"Oh, Daniel," Emily squinted nervously, "You're going back _years_." She didn't really need to struggle to remember. She struggled for an explanation to cover the truth. "Before I met you, my past was _troubled_. Then we became a couple and you envisioned me as this perfect person, someone so _together_ that eventually that was what I became."

"So…?" He probed.

"So it made me nervous," she confessed. "I didn't know whether Emily Thorne soon-to-be Emily Grayson was the woman I was always meant to be if my parents hadn't died in that accident. Or if it was all an act, and I would break your heart."

"I don't understand," Daniel frowned.

"Daniel, I was a different person before I met you. I was hateful, I hated the world and everyone in it. I resented the people who had happy, normal families when mine had been ripped away. I wanted revenge, I needed justice." She admitted, "I could have taken such a different, self-destructive path but you loved me. And I loved you, even though I never thought it would be possible for me to love anyone." She squeezed his hands, "For years, no one loved me. No one cared. Then, all of a sudden, you did and you were determined to make me love you back; that was the hardest thing to accept. It was hard to accept that I could be loved, that I was worthy of it. No one else has done that for me but you, Daniel."

Husband and wife romantically embraced and Daniel smiled with a wink, "My wife the philosopher."

She smiled and folded herself into him, "Hey, I've never just been a pretty face."


	5. Conrad's Consequences

"_In nature, there are neither rewards, nor punishments; there are consequences._" - Robert G. Ingersoll

* * *

_Behind the fake smiles, Daniel knew there were whispers. Women of the Hampton's all commented on the sadness that the Grayson matriarch would miss such an event, businessmen wondered of Grayson Global's future and everyone prayed an occurrence would halt the ceremony of the decade, if only for the rumours._

_"…for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health –"_

_The ceremony screeched to a halt as floods of officers covered the area and surrounded his father with their weapons. Immediately, Daniel's hands slipped from Emily's and he ran towards Conrad for answers. "It's okay, son."_

_Instinctively, Emily's eyes fell to Nolan, who avoided her furious reaction. He had done this. It had taken months to once more rebuild and reassess the evidence against Conrad until it was prepared for the authorities, but Emily had provided Nolan with strict instructions not to release the evidence until she and Daniel were married. Of course, in support of her childhood romance with Jack, Nolan had done the complete opposite in the hopes that she would reconsider her choice. She forced Nolan, and his punishment, from her mind and reached for Daniel, "Daniel…"_

_He pleaded with Conrad more, "Dad?"_

_"I'm sorry," Conrad murmured underneath his breath. Quickly, he raised his hands over his head and the FBI officers cuffed both wrists to ensure his capture at the scene. "I'm sorry, Daniel."_

**(PRESENT)**

Daniel leaned forward, onto the metal table and frowned. Before him, his father slumped in the chair across the table and Daniel couldn't miss how frail his father appeared, in the blue jumpsuit.

His eyes deadened, Conrad barely found the energy to smile at his son, "It's nice to see you, Daniel."

"Well, you asked to see me." Daniel replied.

"I've begged you to see me for 19 years, Daniel. And you never have done." His father pointed out, "I started to wonder if it would take my death before you would acknowledge me." Conrad shuffled in discomfort. His bones ached, his body riddled with one of life's deadliest diseases and after a refusal of treatment, Conrad was ready to accept defeat. But before the end came, Conrad needed to bid his family goodbye. "I'm sure you know why I've asked you here."

Daniel nodded, "I spoke with the doctors before I came."

Conrad exhaled, barely able to find the words, "The fact that you're here, means you care."

"I'm not here for you. I'm here for mom," Daniel spat. "I'm here for Charlotte." He leaned forward, his palms clenched together as he spoke furiously, "Because on your deathbed, I hope you're reminded of the pain you caused. You _killed_ them. You arranged that plane to explode, just as you arranged David Clarke's death, and you're the reason Charlotte isn't here today, with a family of her own. You're the reason she didn't have the chance to free herself of the Grayson curse."

"I know that, Daniel," Conrad accepted the blame.

He sensed the disappointment in Conrad's voice and scoffed. "What did you hope for when you called? Did you think the news of your illness would shock me into forgiveness?" He shook his head and scowled, "I may have lost my family once but in the 19 years you've spent here, left to rot, I've been able to build my own… with Emily," Daniel confirmed.

"Emily…" Conrad wistfully repeated.

"Yeah. She's the only one who stood by me and she's been beside me ever since." Daniel proudly replied, "We've made Grayson Global better than ever before. We have our children… she's never lied to me."

Conrad pursed his lips and allowed them to twitch in contemplation. In a moment of paternal affection, he decided to spare his son any more pain. "Well…" he smiled at Daniel, "I know this may not mean much to you, but I'm proud of you. I know I probably can't take credit for the man you've become, but you need to know how proud I am to say that I raised you." Conrad slowly stood from the chair and reformed to the powerful Conrad Grayson that Daniel had always known. The emotion seemed to have dissipated and the confidence and pride returned, "And send my best to that wife of yours…" he chuckled. "I always knew I liked her. She was more like your mother than Victoria would have liked to admit. It takes a special kind of woman to pull the wool over a Grayson's eyes."

**(FLASHBACK)**

_"I want you to know," Emily's voice remained low and cruel. "That while you spend the rest of your years, rotting behind bars, that I'll be with your son and I'll be at your throne and I'll have brought my father the justice he deserved."_

_Shock overwhelmed Conrad as Emily revealed her true identity to him, only hours after his conviction for the murder for hire of her father, Victoria and Lydia. Not to mention his involvement in the downing of flight 197 and charges of fraud where Grayson Global was concerned. An undeniable respect clouded Conrad's vision for the woman before him, "Well, well, well… it appears your goal has been achieved." He smiled despite himself, "Amanda Clarke."_

_Emily couldn't help but smile back proudly, "Any regrets?"_

_"Only that Victoria had to take her final swan dive before she found out who you really were." He chuckled, insanely, "I'm sure she wouldn't have voluntarily missed this."_

_Emily smirked back, "I'll be sure to send Daniel your best wishes."_

_As she prepared to leave, Conrad eyed the ring she had flaunted since her entrance, he nodded. "Please, Mrs **Grayson**."_

_Victorious, Emily stood with her head held high as she wandered out, "Conrad."_


	6. Purple Lines

"_The art of reading between the lines is as old as manipulated information_." – **Serge Schmemann**

* * *

_"Daniel, there's something I need to tell you," Emily muttered, nervous and more vulnerable than usual._

_As they returned home to the Hampton's, with Victoria and Charlotte buried and his father behind bars, Daniel prepared to pour himself a drink when his wife's words prevented him. Her eyes were wide, her skin was pale and Daniel realised that he really hadn't taken much notice of his wife in the midst of the latest Grayson scandal. "What is it?"_

_"I'm…" she had been rendered speechless. And Emily Thorne was never speechless. Apparently, Emily Grayson was. "I'm…" she tried once more before her hand dove into her purse and passed the object to him._

_"…pregnant." He completed her confession._

_"Yeah," she nodded._

_Incredible. Incredible how just two purple lines could change your perspective and challenge your present, not to mention tease the prospects ahead. "Whoa…" Daniel let out a heavy breath. "You're sure?"_

_"99%," she lifted the box._

_"You're happy?" He checked, uncertain for how she would feel._

_Emily's eyes narrowed, "Are you?"_

_A chuckle escaped his lips, "Don't I look it?" Emily studied him for a moment; perhaps, for the first time since the downfall of his family, Daniel had smiled with the most genuine of smiles. The smile he had flashed at her the day she accepted Bill Harmon's bet on him at the polo match. She had been the one to take that smile away before and now she had the chance to replace it. "Emily," Daniel carefully placed the test down and took her into his arms. "Are you happy? Because I know I am. For the first time in months, I feel as if there's hope. I want this baby with you," he confessed._

_Relief washed over Emily and she nodded enthusiastically, "So do I."_

**(PRESENT)**

"Anyone here?" A female voice echoed in Grayson Manor's open entrance, "I'm home."

"Absolutely not. I'm sorry, that is completely unacceptable." With one hand that hovered over the headset on her ear, Emily strode downstairs, oblivious to the person in the doorway of her home. "Okay… contact Mr Ross with the details and I'll discuss it with him." She clicked off the phone and rolled her eyes, "Idiots."

"Ever the businesswoman, huh?" She remarked.

Her mother spun on her heels, "Charley, you're here."

The brunette discarded her suitcase and accepted her mother's warm embrace. "Yeah, how are you, mom?"

Emily broke the embrace and removed her headset. "Better now that you're here. You should have called, your father and I would have collected you from the airport. He's still at work, and your sister –" she frowned, mid-sentence. "Well, I'm not even sure where Sophia is but Jacob and Hannah are with uncle Nolan at the waterpark." She enveloped Charlotte in her arms and started to wander into the kitchen, "I want to hear all about it. How's college and how's Andrew?"

Charlotte chuckled, "Great. I love college and my lecturers are so sweet. Andrew's okay," she spoke softly of her childhood sweetheart, someone she had known since her early years and loved. "He had initially planned to come and see you guys but his grandmother's sick, and he decided to fly over to Arizona to check in."

"I'm sorry," her mother replied.

"Anyway," Charlotte huffed, "If you're the only one home, then can we talk?" She started out toward the pool where she skimmed the edge, removed her shoes and sunk her bare legs into the ripples.

Emily pulled one of the chairs towards the pool and sat down. "What is it, honey?"

Charlotte pursed her lips, yet her awkward nature intrigued her mother more. "At college, I received letters. They were from the prison." She confessed, and Emily exhaled as Charlotte continued, "Grandfather says he loves me, says he wishes he had the chance to know me more. He says he's ill," she added. "I mean, the letters were so honest. I know, what he did to David Clarke was reprehensible but I think, the important thing is, he knows that. And he's sorry," Charlotte pointed out. "I didn't want to mention it to dad because I didn't want to upset him. Do you think I should see him?"

Her mother looked conflicted. Deeply conflicted. Emily brushed a few blonde strands from her forehead and swallowed the lump in her throat. "I think… your loyalty to your family never leaves you, or your conscience."

"And grandpa's my family," she reminded.

"You've met him once before." Upon Charlotte's request, Emily had taken Charlotte and Sophia to meet Conrad, the man behind bars, when Charlotte was merely 13 years old and Sophia only 11. She could still remember Daniel's fury that she had gone behind his back, but Emily couldn't deny her daughters, nor herself the pleasure of the salt in the wound for the man that destroyed her father.

"And dad was furious," Charlotte recalled. Her parents hadn't spoken for weeks after that. It was then that Charlotte truly realised what a source of conflict her father's family had once been for her parents. "You don't think I should see him, do you?" She eyed her mother carefully, in an attempt to read her reaction.

"Your father went to see him recently," Emily ducked the question.

Charlotte twirled her brunette curls around her fingers and shook her head. "I won't see him…"

More relieved than she wanted to admit, Emily remained with a blank expression and stood. "I think I'll call Nolan. He's been on my back about these accounts at NolCorp and some problem with the finances. I'll be finished in a couple hours, that should leave you some time to unpack and settle back in."

Once her mother swooped inside, Charlotte revealed the piece of paper neatly folded in her pocket. She looked down at the lines written by her grandfather in a unique purple-inked pen. Against her better judgement, she had been vague when she mentioned to her mother about the letter from Conrad. Yes, he had apologised for his actions. Yes, he had claimed to love her and requested she visit him. But, between the purple lines, Conrad had insinuated more. Somehow, Charlotte knew _something_ would change and the purple lines were the key to that discovery.


	7. Truth or Die

"_The truth doesn't always set you free; people prefer to believe prettier, neatly wrapped lies._" - Jodi Picoult

* * *

It didn't take Charlotte and Sophia much more than five minutes to confess to one another that they had each received individual letters from behind bars. As they studied one another's, they noticed the letters were different, bar one section of the letter which referenced their mother.

…_you must know the expression, "two may keep a secret if one of them is dead"? It just may be your mother's favourite expression. Or she may be more partial to __"revenge is sweet" but, I suspect, no _

_one ever told her "the best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury"? If they had, I'm quite assured the two of you __wouldn't exist._

"I sense a theme of revenge," Sophia commented, as she tossed the letter aside.

"Or just bitterness," Charlotte countered. She flicked her brunette strands over her shoulder and allowed them to trail down her back as she continued to read the letter addressed to Sophia. Her suspicious mind warned her not to naively fall into Conrad's trap of words, her heart craved an explanation. _I'm quite assured the two of you wouldn't exist_, she read the words in her head once more, before she reached her decisive conclusion. "He's out to cause trouble, Soph."

"He seems so sincere." Her sister countered, "Charley, I know I sound all gullible here but, isn't it possible that there's some reason for the letters? It sounds to me like there's a real story behind all of this." She reached for the letter and her fingers pointed to the words, "You see, he said it himself, he doesn't have much time left."

"Cancer's a bitch," Charlotte nonchalantly retorted.

Sophia pursed her lips and stared at her older sister intensely. "So, that's it? We'll burn the letters and ignore him?"

Exasperated, Charlotte scowled, "Do you have a better idea?"

"…_please, Ems. You know you're the only one I trust…_" The unmistakable voice of Nolan Ross whined from the hall into Charlotte's bedroom and both sisters leapt from the bed and made their way downstairs. His strawberry blonde hair flicked to one side as his head snapped in their direction, "Charletto," his eyes widened, and his arms stretched out to embrace the oldest sister as he pouted at Emily, "You didn't mention she'd come home."

"You didn't give me the chance," Emily rolled her eyes.

Amused by her mother's interaction with the oldest family friend the Grayson's cherished, Sophia giggled as Nolan freed Charlotte and eyed her carefully, "Grayson," he flicked his head quickly.

She mirrored his action, "Ross."

Her mother rolled her eyes once more. "Okay, we can continue this later on. Nolan and I have business to discuss," she informed them, their cue to leave the room. Once they disappeared, Emily's smile fell. "Conrad's been in contact." Nolan didn't appear surprised. " Daniel decided to visit him and Conrad riled him. That much was expected," she confessed. "But he's also written to Charlotte and possibly Sophia. Charlotte was pretty vague about what he wrote about, I'm not sure if I need to be worried yet," Emily concluded. "I did wonder if maybe they would confide in someone... _im__partial_."

"If they mention it, I'll let you know," Nolan promised with kind eyes. "But I don't think Conrad would –"

His eyes met Emily's, which were full of disappointment. Of course Conrad would. "I should never have allowed him to find out who I really was." Her confession came full of remorse. It was a moment of madness, and weakness, though some may consider them to be the same and Emily had lived in fear ever since that moment.

Nolan snaked against the kitchen counter, "Would it really be so bad?" He tilted his head in an attempt to reach into her soul, "If Daniel found out?" Once again, her eyes replied. "Surely, he would understand."

"For him to find out that our entire lives, our children's' existence has all been based on a pretence. He would hate me, Nolan. My children would hate me. I tore apart his family, Nolan. I'm partially responsible for Charlotte's suicide. There's been so much history, so much to ask forgiveness for…" her voice trailed off, before it returned stronger than ever. "I would rather die than have my family know the truth."

**(FLASBACK)**

_She carefully removed the Infinity Box from the space underneath the floorboards for the last, final time ever._

_"I'll be in the car, Em." Nolan appreciated the privacy of the moment and disappeared._

_Emily sadly took one final look around her childhood home. "Goodbye, dad." She securely placed the Infinity Box in one of the cardboard boxes with the rest of her belongings and exhaled. After several months, Daniel had finally persuaded her that a second home wasn't necessary, now that she was Mrs Grayson and lived with him._

_"Emily," Jack appeared in the doorway. Neither of them could deny, nor confront, the tension between them. Since the return of Amanda, conversation hadn't been regular between them. "I just wanted to say thank you… again." He ran one hand over his black strands and shook his head in amazement, "I can't describe how much this means to Amanda. Or how much it means to me and you have been incredibly kind and generous," he rambled. "You're a wonderful friend."_

_"You're more than welcome," Emily graciously assured him._

_"When I heard you decided to sell, I knew I could never afford it," he confessed. "But for you to offer us first refusal. Amanda's lost for words," Jack added._

_She closed her eyes and feigned happiness; truthfully, it only added insult to injury to know that Amanda could continue her façade in her childhood home. Emily ignored the sickness and smiled at him, "I'm sure she is." It warmed her heart to know how much Jack loved **her**. In order to pay for Amanda's childhood home, he had sold both The Amanda and The Stowaway and he still couldn't provide the price requested. However, Emily had lowered the price for him. Somehow, she needed to repay Jack for the lies she had told and would continue to spin for the rest of their years._

_At that moment, Amanda stepped inside the house. "Hey, baby." She kissed Jack, "Hi, Emily."_

_"Hey, you know, I don't think you've seen the baby yet," Jack pointed out. "He's in the car, isn't he?" He checked, and Amanda nodded her head. "He's beautiful. I'll just get him for you," he raced outside._

_A moment of torturous silence occurred until Amanda opened her mouth to speak and Emily silenced her with a glare that had always provoked horror within Amanda. "Keep your mouth shut." She warned, "Jack will never find out the truth, do you understood? I don't want to hear from you, no phone calls, no letters. No contact." Emily prepared to leave when she turned back, "Don't be a fool, don't cross me, **Emily**," Emily snarled in a lowered, whispered tone of voice. "Because if the truth ever comes out, I'll know where to find you and you'll wish you had never met Amanda Clarke."_


	8. Safe Secrets

"_And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places_." – **Roald Dahl**

* * *

"Mom," Sophia hopped the stairs toward the attic. "Mom…"

"Hey, honey," her mother chucked yet another cardboard box into the corner of the room, frustrated. She huffed, to blow her blonde wisps from her eyes and looked toward Sophia, who returned a look of bemusement. "I'm on the search for old clothes for Hannah's school show; apparently, she nominated me to make the costumes for the whole cast!" Emily rolled her eyes, to match her irritation, which Sophia knew was feigned deep down; her mother loved such activities.

She smirked, "And you've come up here because…?"

"Because I'm almost 100% positive that your grandmothers clothes are still up here somewhere. Your father never had the heart to throw them out, I did plan on giving them away to charity but I never got around to it. At least, this way, they'll be handy for something," she commented.

"Well, I'm not busy, I'll help you out." Sophia peered into one of the boxes and felt a childish wave of excitement, "Oh my, is this?" She reached in and retrieved a small painted picture of the sunset on the horizon.

"It is," her mother confirmed. "I think you made that first grade on your first day." Her mind fluttered to another box, "I found this earlier on, it's full of old photographs when you and Charley were tots. I always meant to file them away into albums but, once again, I could never find the time for it." She admired a picture of herself, Daniel, Charlotte and Sophia on a holiday in Australia. "Those were the days, huh?" Emily passed the photo to Sophia and continued her search for old clothes, as Sophia admired the picture. "You know, it's been forever since we had a vacation?"

"Uh-huh," Sophia nodded.

"It must be 7 or 8 years now," Emily confessed. "Canada, 2025," she reminisced.

Conversation ceased until Sophia stumbled upon a small, rusted safe stowed away in the corner of the attic. "Whoa…" she eyed the box before her pursed her lips. It looked old. And unused. In fact, as if it hadn't been opened for years. She let the smile of her lips appear as she contemplated the lost items inside it. Her foot attempted to move it, to no avail. "If I didn't know better, I would bet there's a dead body in that. What's that film, you know, when the murderer keeps the girl's body inside his safe in his basement? Weird…" she shuddered.

Her mother looked toward her, nervously. "The Lovely Bones." She pointed to the safe with her chin, "And I don't want you to play with that, okay?"

At her mother's harsh tones, Sophia backed off, "Okay."

"Em?" Daniel's voice interrupted the unusually awkward moment. "Finance department from NolCorp's on the phone. They said it's important. I'll leave the phone in the kitchen. I'm late for work, see you for dinner tonight."

The front door closed and Emily shoved her current box aside to make her exit. "I'll have to take that. Could you carry on looking through these for me? I may be some time on the phone." When Sophia nodded, Emily smiled back, "Thanks, baby. I'll come back up when I'm done."

Once her mother disappeared, Sophia scanned the room. Tonnes of unwanted objects had been hoarded here for years and Sophia wondered how many hours would pass before she found what her mother desired. Eventually, she discovered a dusted suitcase and her eyes came alive with success, "Bingo!" Bandage dresses of every shade of every colour appeared inside the suitcase and Sophia reached in for a pair of shoes and checked the faint size on the heel, before she slipped them onto her feet. "Perfect fit," she gleefully remarked. Curiosity peaked as Sophia caught a glimpse of the safe once more and she wandered toward it, with a check for her mother's presence. "C'mon…" she racked her brain for the safe combination, which clearly her mother knew. Her fingers punched in memorable dates, from birthday's to deaths and anniversary's, but none pried the safe open. Finally, Sophia resorted to random assortments of numbers when finally she the safe cracked open. Her eyes widened in disbelief, "Yes," she congratulated herself, and made a mental note that the combination was the birthday of Chris' mother, Amanda.

"Hey, Sophia," her mother called from a distance. "How're you doing with the clothes?"

She swallowed hard and responded, "Working on it, mom." Her hands coerced the safe door to open and inside sat an old wooden box. She swiped the dust from the lid and noted the double infinity sign carved on it. Inside the box, several faces greeted her from an aged photograph marked _Grayson Global Executive Retreat 1992_ and instantly noticed her father's parents. "Those were the days," she mimicked her mother's earlier remark, as she noticed David Clarke beside them.

Behind the picture were letters, small books that looked like diaries and much more but the calls from her mother made it impossible to concentrate on them. "They've put me on hold _again_," she could hear her mother frown.

Sophia replaced the picture and scooped the box into her arms, shut the safe and snatched two of the ladies dresses from the suitcase before she made her way discretely toward her bedroom. She carefully disguised the box at the bottom of her closet behind a stack of winter jumpers next to her shoes and closed the closet door just before her mother entered the room. "Mom…" she sounded guilty.

"What are you doing down here?" Emily narrowed her eyes.

"I found some dresses," Sophia helplessly answered. "There's more up there."

Her mother eyed the beige bandage dress and scarlet, strapless silk dress Victoria had worn to the Fire and Ice Ball. Emily found her mind rewound in time to the fateful night and snapped back into the present. "Great. These are perfect." Her attention returned to the phone pressed against her ear and she muttered to Sophia, "They call me for advice and then have the audacity to put me on hold for the second time; typical. Honey, are you okay?" She noticed her daughter's rather on-edge mode. Instantly, Sophia nodded. "Okay," Emily didn't feel convinced. "Thanks for the help," she grabbed the two dresses, "I'll be downstairs."

Sophia breathed a heady sigh of relief once the room became empty. She clicked the lock on her door and recalled the box, which she placed on her double bed. Something told her this box belonged to her mother, "Box of secrets," she mused. Yet what secrets her mother could possibly have evaded Sophia. Her mind retraced to the letter from Conrad. He had claimed as much. The vibration of her cell phone attracted her attention, "Sophia here."

"Soph, it's Charley," her sister yelled down the phone.

"Hey, what's up? I have news for you," Sophia answered, as she eyed the box.

"I've just been _collected_ from the mall." Her tone was agitated and Sophia could hear the bare bones of fear behind it, "I'm on my way to see grandpa. Can you make some excuses for me? I'm not sure I'll be home for dinner tonight."

She shuffled uncomfortably, "Charley, where are you?"

Her older sister huffed, as two men's voices could be overheard in the background. "Don't worry, Soph, I'll be home soon," she muttered, before the phone shut off and Sophia shot her cell an incredulous expression, and her eyes fell back toward the box she had earlier discovered.

"Sophia," Emily's voice called and Sophia threw a blanket over the box. "I need to head over to Nolan's and discuss some business with him. I can take the kids but I would really rather they stay here with you, unless you have plans?" Sophia shrugged her shoulders, "Great. Oh, and Nolan will probably be over for dinner tonight so make sure you're there. Have you seen your sister?" Her mother added, "I haven't seen her since breakfast. I hope she'll make dinner tonight."

"She's kind of _tied up_ at the moment," Sophia subtly responded. "But I'm sure she'll be home when she can."


	9. Curiouser and Curiouser

"_Pride and curiosity are the two scourges of our souls. The latter prompts us to poke our noses into everything, and the former forbids us to leave anything unresolved and undecided_." – **Michel de Montaigne**

* * *

Charlotte allowed the officers to guide her through the prison. She took mild comfort in the fact that she was surrounded by law enforcement should Conrad attempt anything unexpected.

"Miss, excuse me, I'll need your full name here," one of the officers behind the desk requested.

One of the men, who had become her temporary guardian for the afternoon, jotted down her name underneath his, _Mark Connors_, and led her further into the prison. She grimaced, as the final traces of sunshine disappeared through the square windows, which were barred. Eventually, they reached a private room where he motioned to the door, "In there."

She scowled, before she entered. Inside, an elderly man hunched over the table with his wrists cuffed to it. His head rose at the click of the door and he smiled, "Charlotte…" His smile was one of admiration, disbelief even. She mirrored her namesake and Conrad could almost pretend his daughter stood before him. He stood as she took her seat opposite him. "I'm very pleased you came."

Charlotte avoided eye contact, "I wasn't aware I had another option."

Her grandfather looked bemused. "Of course you had another option. You were more than entitled to refuse, Charlotte, and if anyone made you feel otherwise then I apologise sincerely." Conrad tilted his head and studied her appearance, "It's been some time since your mother initially brought you to see me here. How're you?"

"I'm okay," she shortly answered.

"I'm sorry if you felt corralled into coming here but, when my letter didn't prompt a visit, I decided to take matters into my own hands." Conrad admitted, "I'm sure it's no secret that I'm not a well man. I don't have much time left," he confirmed. The inhumane disease had spread from his pancreas and started to rot his bones, burn out his organs and Conrad felt his time on earth had reached an end. "For a man in my position, that could be considered a blessing in places like this." He motioned to the brick walls that encroached on them and Charlotte suddenly felt claustrophobic. "I can't deny that whatever you've heard about me were probably more credible than rumours. I'm not a proud man, not anymore. The horrors inflicted on David Clarke and his child were inconceivable –"

She rose her eyebrow, "Were?"

"**Are**." His eyes returned to his hands, before his head rose, "But I'm not the first man, or _woman_, to play with reality." He frowned as Charlotte appeared to dismiss him, "Appearances can, and already have, deceived you, Charlotte."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Charlotte challenged him.

"It means, I've had plenty of time here. Behind bars, you tend to reflect on your past. Some regret the consequences of their actions, some regret that they were caught and some are determined to discover how they were found out." Conrad narrowed his eyes, as if in reminiscent mode. "If you had asked me back then; where would I be in 20 years? I would've pictured myself in a much different position from this. And that's when I started to recall my _downfall_."

"You are the only one to blame for your position," she countered. "You framed an innocent man for your own crime which took the lives of several innocent people. Do you really think this is justice?" Charlotte shot him a horrified expression.

"Doesn't it strike you as odd? I had fabricated the truth for America to believe. I had spun a web of lies for years and then, the minute your mother arrives in the Hampton's, it all falls apart." Charlotte's confidence dropped with her heart in her chest and Conrad continued, "Victoria had always known. She knew from the start your mother was bad news." A smile of admiration settled on his lips, "She had more intuition than I credited her with." His wistful remark hung in the tension-filled atmosphere. "Your mother entered our lives and it all started to fall down. Lydia Davis, Bill Harmon, Tom Kingsley, Michelle Banks, Frank Stevens, Mason Treadwell –"

"Those people deserved every misfortune they faced. Karma's a bitch, isn't it?" Charlotte harshly scoffed. Her studies as a law student had included America's most infamous trials; David Clarke's topped the list. "I'm sorry your little bubble burst but my mother had nothing to do with it."

"The Fire and Ice Ball, Daniel's arrested for the murder of Tyler Barrol…" he rattled on, and Charlotte frowned. The name Tyler Barrol wasn't one she had heard before, and why hadn't she known her father had been arrested for **murder**? "Our lives suddenly became a magnet for chaos, at least, more than before," Conrad shook his head like a man scorned, "And your dear mother was in the centre of it all. Of course, Victoria was convinced Amanda Clarke was behind it. Little did she know they were one in the same…"

Charlotte's hazel eyes pierced his blue eyes as he spoke. They were filled with confidence and Charlotte knew, deep down, underneath her complete trust in her parents, that her grandfather spoke the truth. "Look," she huffed, "You've brought me here and practically begged for repentance. But, when it comes down to it, you don't really want forgiveness. Because you're not really sorry. You want to lay more blame and cause more pain."

Conrad smirked, as if he expected this. "I knew you would never believe what I have to say, Charley." Her spine tingled as he called her the nickname only close friends and family used for her. "Which is why I've left the rest for you to find out."

"You think you can trick me into not trusting my mother?" She snapped.

"I think you're a Grayson," Conrad replied. "And one day, your curiosity will have the better of you." She started to move and Conrad snatched for her hand, "**Charlotte**, I've risked it all to tell you this much. Don't make me regret it."

Confusion shot through Charlotte's veins and she leapt from her seat and stormed out of the room. Guards eyed her carefully when she slammed the heavy door shut. Complete darkness could be seen through the small windows and she winced; her mother would expect an explanation for her whereabouts and she didn't have one.


	10. Photographs

"_A picture is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know._" – **Diane Arbus**

* * *

_Newly-wed, Emily Grayson, eyed the dusty attic with careful eyes as she securely held the Infinity Box between her palms. What had once been the evil queen's castle would now be her home, and Emily needed somewhere to shelter her sacred secrets from her husband's prying eyes. She smirked, as she acknowledged the steel-safe in the corner of the attic, which had been delivered on her return from her honeymoon, and she eyed the note attached to it._

_**Consider it a housewarming gift, Mrs Grayson. Love Nolan x**_

_Where to stash the Infinity Box had been a major consideration, when she decided to move in with Daniel. After a rather temporary stay at Nolan's, Emily needed the box to be relocated much closer to home. Carefully, she placed it inside the safe with a tender kiss to the double infinity sign carved on the lid and she smiled, "Goodbye, dad."_

**(PRESENT)**

"Grayson Global Retreat 1992," Sophia declared, as she studied the photograph with sombre eyes. Several faces beamed in her direction, yet her eyes were drawn to the three people in the centre. To the left, David Clarke stood tall with a friendly smile as the sun reflected in his eyes. Beside him, Conrad's arm happily wrapped around Victoria, who radiated one of the saddest smiles Sophia had ever witnessed.

The creak of the floorboards outside her bedroom attracted her attention and she instinctively threw her covers over the Infinity Box, to reveal her fluffy pink robe as she anticipated her mothers' presence. "Hey," Charlotte's friendly face peered around her bedroom door as she whispered quietly, careful not to wake the household.

Sophia's eyes widened, "Charley, where have you been?"

After her sister had missed the family dinner, Sophia had reluctantly been left to make excuses for Charlotte. "I've been to see Grandpa. He summoned me, if you catch my drift?"

"What did he say?" Sophia asked, curious as to why Conrad found it imperative to communicate with them, after all these years had passed since they had been introduced. "Did you ask him about the letters?"

"I didn't have much chance. He was too busy on a rant about mom, how she destroyed the family, how she caused his downfall, blah blah blah…" her sister rolled her eyes, not wishing to recount the story. Charlotte's chin nodded at the picture in Sophia's left hand and frowned, "What's that?"

"Oh," Sophia revealed the box. "I had a much more productive afternoon than you, clearly. Here," she placed the wooden box on her sisters knees, as Charlotte crawled onto the bed. "I found this in an old safe in the attic. It's filled with pictures of Grandpa, Grandma and even David Clarke," she pointed to the man. "I've been busy reading these diaries too," Sophia pulled out the small notebooks from the box. "They were written by David Clarke while he was imprisoned. Most of them mention Amanda, Conrad and Victoria, but some even mention uncle Nolan. Apparently, they were friends," she revealed.

"Nolan never mentioned it," Charlotte pointed out.

"I know, right?" Sophia agreed, "Here, check this out," she offered a handwritten letter from the bottom of the box. "It's addressed to Amanda, it's from him."

_My dear Amanda, if you're reading this then two things have come to pass; I am finally able to provide you the life you were unjustly denied and sadly I won't be able to share that life with you…_

"He must have written this, in the hopes she would receive it after his death," Charlotte commented.

"Which means someone must have supplied her with this box," Sophia nodded, as she continued to look in the box.

Charlotte's eyes started to flicker between the picture of the Grayson Global executives and Sophia, "Weird."

Sophia frowned curiously, "What?"

"It's just pretty obvious where your looks stem from," Charlotte held the picture beside Sophia's face and noticed Sophia had inherited Victoria's entire appearance. "But then, I should have expected that, since you're daddy's princess."

Her sister pouted, "Gee, thanks."

A cheeky smile appeared on Charlotte's face, "You're welcome." She noticed an old book and pulled it out, "Hey, look. It's written by Mason Treadwell. He had been a poor journalist, except his reports on David Clarke seemed to make him world famous. Once the truth came out, he escaped punishment for his part in the cover-up but he was considered one of the biggest frauds in literary history, to America, at least. He became a complete outcast from the media world, I suppose you may consider that punishment enough for the small part he played in the crimes," Charlotte concluded.

Sophia scowled jealously, "How do you know all of this?"

"I'm a law student, Soph. We're asked to research America's most well-known court cases. Much to the unhappiness of my lecturers, I chose to study the David Clarke case. If only Grandpa were available to help with the homework," she dryly remarked. "Besides, shouldn't you know this? Your boyfriend's David Clarke's grandson."

"He doesn't know much," Sophia replied, "His mom doesn't like to talk about it."

"Well, why would she need to talk when she has a 'hate on Grayson' box?" Charlotte sharply responded, "I'm only bothered by the fact that Amanda Clarke's box has been found in the Grayson Manor attic. It doesn't make sense."

"Maybe if we check it out some more, we'll find some answers," Sophia instructed, as she rooted inside it and found some more pictures. Her mouth dropped open, as she made a sickened expression, "Oh… my… I feel kind of queasy. Isn't that Lydia Davis?" She mumbled, as the sisters studied the picture of Conrad's arms wrapped around the body of a half-naked blonde in a hotel room. "…best friends' husband, huh? Classy," Sophia's face wrinkled in disgust.

"She's in the picture here," Charlotte returned to the Grayson Global executives. "She died in the explosion with Victoria."

"On their way to provide evidence for the state vs. Conrad Grayson. Too convenient," Sophia snidely shook her head.

"Victoria died in the plane explosion, aunt Charlotte committed suicide, Conrad was eventually arrested…" Charlotte started to reference back to her conversation with Conrad in the prison. "It really did fall apart for them." She looked at her sister for some kind of balance to her opinion, "Conrad seemed to blame mom for the Grayson downfall."

Sophia looked stupified. "Charley, don't be ridiculous. Look, I'm not usually the one to blow mom's trumpet but she's the one who helped dad rebuild the Grayson name. Grayson Global's never thrived before, now it's one of the world's most respected companies, despite the conviction of Conrad." She eyed her sister carefully, "Whatever Conrad said to you has probably come from a place of bitterness inside him. If anyone could be responsible for the Grayson downfall, it may have been Amanda. She certainly had the motive for it, if not the resources. Aside from that, the Grayson's were the ones who brought those consequences upon themselves and Conrad and Victoria have paid with their lives."

Charlotte nodded, "I suppose you're right…"

Her sister wrapped a protective arm around her, "Damn straight."

"But that still doesn't explain why Amanda's box would be in our attic," she countered.

"Well, why don't we head to the source?" Sophia flickered her forehead, as if she had a plan in motion. "Chris said Jack and Amanda are due back from Malibu tomorrow afternoon. They've been on some family visit to Jack's brother, Declan. Tomorrow, we'll return the box to Amanda and she can offer some kind of explanation."


	11. A Broken Facade

"_The truth has not so much set us free as it has ripped away a carefully constructed façade, leaving us naked to begin again_." – **Lisa Unger**

* * *

Home sweet home. Except, it never would be. Never had been, in fact. Her _childhood home_ had only ever been a reminder of the lies her family's foundations were created with. Amanda didn't feel safe here.

**(FLASHBACK)**

_"Amanda, are you here?" Jack's voice radiated the house, "I'm home." He removed his coat and awaited the muffled sound of his wife's attempts to console their baby, or the cries of their son, but silence remained. "Amanda?"_

_The creak of floorboards above him confirmed someone's presence, "I'm upstairs."_

_He smiled a carefree smile and slumped on the sofa, where the television was muted but pictures of Nolan Ross flashed across the screen as the news reported NolCorp's latest successful business venture. "Declan's settled in Malibu. His apartment's not exactly a home from home, and his roommates are kind of eccentric, but he's happy. He starts work on Monday and I've made him promise he'll call. Is Chris asleep yet?"_

_No response came, and eventually Jack decided to head upstairs and check Amanda for himself. "Ssshh, he's finally down. You're home early, aren't you?"_

_Her words were mumbled from tears, and Jack scowled. "Amanda, what is it?"_

_"Don't call me that." She spat viciously in response and yanked her arm away from him. Jack's brown eyes widened with confusion and she fought her eyes, which continued to water more. "I'm sorry, Jack. I'm tense, that's all."_

_"Baby, come here." He affectionately kissed her hand and allowed her to follow him downstairs. "Look, you're a new mom. It's understandable, especially after your difficult childhood, that you would have trouble to start with. No one's perfect. I certainly have my issues. I loved my dad but he wasn't always there for me. Just because we didn't have role models, it doesn't mean we're born to make the same mistakes they did or that we're bad parents, okay?" His reassurance came with a tender kiss on the cheek, yet Amanda continued to cry on. "Amanda, come on, you've been this way for…" His mind had raced with the math, but Amanda hadn't been normal for months. In fact, Jack hadn't witnessed the old Amanda he had always known at all. "Are you ever going to open your heart to me completely?"_

_She silently increased the volume on the television, as the reporter stood in front of the court, where Daniel and Emily had started the descend the stairs and look for the Grayson security. "…_the news comes just months after the conviction of Conrad Grayson, former CEO of Grayson Global, who has been named responsible for the conspiracy_..."_

_Amanda found relief, "David Clarke's finally been declared innocence."_

_Her husband's eyes widened, "Amanda, that's incredible. I'm so happy for you," he embraced her softly. Her arms were limp and remained beside her waist, much to Jack's confusion. "Baby, aren't you happy? Your dad's –"_

_"He's not my father," Amanda confessed._

_"What?" Jack's eyes fell cold but Amanda decided to adjust to such a look. After all, with her father finally acquitted from the unjust crimes, Emily had no reason to remain Emily Thorne or Grayson. Emily would be free to pursue Jack, despite the unborn Grayson she had fallen pregnant with, despite Chris' existence, somehow Amanda knew Jack and Emily would always be destined to become a couple. "Amanda," he pulled her back, "What are you talking about?"_

_"David Clarke's not my father, he never was." Her confession came from an emotionless voice, and an emotionless face. "I haven't been honest with you, Jack. And I've never been able to tell you the truth, for so many reasons. Mainly because I love you, and I know I'll lose you, once you realise the façade we've lived. Secondly because she needed me. She needed to avenge the injustice her father faced. But," Amanda shrugged her shoulders, "I never considered that, once she'd done that, she didn't need her alias anymore and all she would need is you. So since she'll have you anyway, I may as well be the one to come clean. Just believe me, when I say, Jack," her eyes welled with tears. "I'll never love anyone the way I love you."_

_Confusion spread like wildfire for Jack, "Amanda…"_

_She closed her eyes. She didn't need to see his face fall, or the smile appear on his lips when he realised how deep his affection for Emily was. "My real name's Emily Thorne and I'm not the person I've led you to believe."_

_"Emily Thorne…" Jack repeated, his words whispered and stammered from his breath._

**(PRESENT)**

A careful knock on the weary doorframe, and the soft smile of Sophia Grayson attracted her attention. Most certainly, she hadn't inherited Emily's appearance, but she held her mother's lioness-like stance. Amanda plastered a sickly sweet smile on her face as she opened the door for Sophia, "Hi, Sophia. If you're here for Chris, I'm afraid –"

"I'm not here to see Chris, I'm here to see you," she kindly corrected.

"Oh, okay…" Amanda suddenly became unbalanced with nerves. She motioned toward the sofa, "How can I help you?"

"Perhaps, you could tell me your opinion about the Grayson's," Sophia requested.

Amanda couldn't help but smile with her dry remark, "I'm sure everyone knows how I feel about your family."

Sophia nodded her head, "And that's exactly why I'm here. See, I have an awful interest in family history and the David Clarke trial appears to be an extreme point," she added, with light-heartedness. "I've discovered some evidence of sorts that suggests the downfall of the Grayson's wasn't as random as it appeared. And I hoped you could answer some of the questions I've had since I found these rumours," Sophia requested.

Her suspicion bordered on paranoia, and Amanda narrowed her eyes. "Look, Sophia, I would love to help you but I spent years away from the Grayson's. And I've tried to distance myself from what happened."

The raven-haired girl worked her charm, along with Charlotte's well-scripted responses. "Amanda, I know you have no reason to help me or my family, but you're really the only one I can rely on for the truth." Her eyes pleaded, "My father's under the naïve impression that my Grandmother was the one who tipped the SEC onto the frame-up but I have reason to believe another person was involved and whoever it was, owns the box I have in my possession."

As Charlotte and Sophia had predicted, Amanda's attitude did a 180° when she heard the box mentioned. "Box?"

Sophia revealed the Infinity Box into Amanda's vision, "Have you seen it before?"

"Ermm…" Amanda contemplated her response, yet found herself saved by the arrival of her husband and she leapt to her feet to kiss him on the cheek. "Hey, babe. Sophia's here. She found my box in her parents attic and came to return it."

"Oh," Jack played his most-professional poker face.

"You remember the one, filled with memories of my dad?" Amanda probed.

"How very kind of you, Sophia," Jack kindly replied with a boyish grin, which Sophia noted Chris had inherited. "Listen, I hate to interrupt but I have something important to discuss with Amanda so…" his voice trailed off into the distance and his eyes flickered between Sophia and the entrance of their home.

Reluctant, yet out of options, Sophia prepared to depart the house. She knew Charlotte would surely strangle her for her lack of answers and loss of the box but she didn't have much choice. "I'm happy to help," she weakly replied.

The couple waved her from the property, "Nice to see you, Sophia." Jack's hands grasped the porch bars as he watched the child head home, and Amanda appeared from behind. "How much does she know?" He asked, his voice a hushed tone.

She pursed her lips, "I couldn't tell."

"Well, someone needs to warn Emily," Jack pointed out. "Before Sophia becomes even more curious."

Her husband prepared to return inside when Amanda reached for his arm, "Jack, wait…" Their eyes met and Amanda swallowed the lump in her throat, formed from guilt. "You never did tell me why you decided to stay, even after you knew the truth. I mean, you could have walked away with our son. You could have been with Emily but, here we are, nineteen years on and you're still married to me and the real Amanda Clarke's now called Emily Grayson. How does that happen?"

"It happened because of our son, Amanda." Jack coldly responded, "There are no words to describe how crushed I was by the truth, and I won't ever let my son feel the indescribable sense of loss or disappointment." His eyes returned to the distant form that was Sophia, "And I won't allow Emily's children to feel it either, d'you understand me?"

Amanda softly nodded her head, yet she truly didn't, "I'm sorry, Jack."

Brown eyes sharpened and he walked back inside their home. "Save it, Amanda. I've told you before," his words cut her down, the way they had done at every attempt she made to confront his true emotions since the truth had been revealed. "Your apologies are far too little and way too late to even make a difference."


	12. The Preservation of a Secret

"_Nothing in this world is hidden forever. Look where we will, the inevitable law of revelation is one of the laws of nature; the lasting preservation of a secret is a miracle which the world has never yet seen_." – **William Collins**

* * *

There he stood. At her doorway, handsome as ever with black hair and teddy-bear brown eyes. She hadn't seen her true childhood sweetheart in almost nineteen years, unless you counted the accidental run-in at the school, when the parents discovered Chris and Charlotte would attend the same school.

She opened the door and removed herself from his path. "Jack, come in…"

"I'm not here to stay. What I have to say to you won't take too much of your time. I know you're a busy woman," he added. His hands remained firmly shoved into the pockets of his coat, "I noticed Daniel's car isn't in the driveway."

"He should be home soon. He's gone to collect Jacob and Hannah from Nolan's," Emily explained her husband's absence.

"Well, perhaps that's for the best." His voice had hardened since the days Emily Thorne had been one of his closest friends and Jack forced himself to appear abrupt. He followed Emily into the kitchen, where he scanned for her children, yet no faces returned his eyes. "I'm here about Sophia," he cleared his throat.

"She and Charley are upstairs," Emily responded. She should know; suddenly, and inexplicably, her children had chosen to avoid her at all costs. "Look, Jack, I really appreciate that you made the first move and came here. I'm sure this must be awkward for you. Daniel and I have discussed it and we're not particularly happy but, from what I can tell, there's no way we could keep Chris and Sophia apart. If we let them run their course then I'm positive –"

"I'm not here about Chris. Yet, for the record, I don't think Chris could have found a more compassionate or suitable girl." His compliment came from a warmer voice, "Sophia's a credit to you and Daniel."

"I don't understand. You said you were here –" Emily frowned, confused.

"Amanda and I came home from Malibu today and Sophia appeared to be the only to welcome us home to the Hampton's. She produced your _Infinity Box_ and claimed she came to return it to Amanda, if Amanda answered her questions." The delivery of his words, as if they shared a normal conversation, made the sentence harder to digest for Emily.

She swallowed hard and whimpered, "Jack…"

Blank-faced, Jack nodded his head in confirmation. "Don't worry, _Amanda_, I know your dirty secret. I've known for years and I've never had any intention of telling anyone the truth." His eyes pierced her heart, "I assume Daniel's not aware?" He slammed the Infinity Box, transported in a carrier bag, on the kitchen counter and patted it. Emily's silence unnerved him, yet his fury unleashed and allowed him to continue his emotionless attack. "Look, I'm not here to confront you, or even to express my disappointment. I'm here because I know you wouldn't want your children to find out their mother's not the woman they've always known. To discover their entire existence has been based on some cruel revenge."

Emily slowly recovered from the shock. "No, please, Jack. It's not what you think, okay?" Her words sounded ridiculous as they split from her mouth, completely unprepared. "I never meant to –"

"I didn't come here for an apology, or an explanation. I've heard every one in the book from my wife and frankly, I'm tired of the excuses. Because there's no excuse in the world to play with people's lives the way you have done." He scolded, "I'm here to return your precious box," his words mocked her world of fascination. "And to warn you to be careful. Because if your children discover the truth, then so does my son."

He headed towards the door and Emily raced after him, "Jack, wait…"

**(FLASHBACK)**

_Amanda's heartbeat frantically raced. Her husband hovered over their baby's cot, furiously. "How can I even be sure he's my son?" The distrust Jack suddenly came like a blow to her stomach. "He could be another ploy for you to keep me. You have fed me lies from the moment we met. I can't believe a word passed from your lips, Ama –"_

_She watched him falter at her name and started to cry once more. "You have every reason to doubt me but not about him. I may have messed with people's lives, but never our sons. C'mon, Jack," she pleaded. "He's yours. You know it."_

_"How?" Jack bellowed._

_The battle startled their son, who started to woke from his slumber and started to cry. "He has your eyes."_

_Instantly, Jack's head dropped to his son once more and Chris' eyes fluttered open to look back at him. His chocolate brown eyes and dark curls were the ultimate reflection of him, and Jack couldn't deny this much. The need to bolt started to overwhelm him and he rushed down the stairs, but Amanda quickly followed behind. Her hands desperately made a reach for him, but he yanked back. "Don't touch me."_

_"I know you may never believe me again, but you said you loved me once. Don't you feel that way anymore?" She asked, "Simply because I'm not Amanda Clarke. Are you really so in love with someone you knew when you were 12? Because I'm the one you've been with the past two years, Jack. I'm the one you married, I'm the one who carried your son."_

_"It'll never be more than a sham," he barked._

_"I've never lied to you about how I feel, Jack. When I stuck around in the Hampton's, I fought for you. Emily did all she could to tear me away from you, because she didn't want you in the middle of her battle with the Grayson's but I stayed for you." Amanda slowly stalked toward him, her hands carefully settled on his chest to feel the rise and fall. "I didn't lie to you when I told you and that you and our son are my heart and soul. I'm not the cruel and insecure little Emily Thorne from juvi anymore because of you. I'm a better person. I'm Amanda Porter and if I have to fight for you, I will."_

**(PRESENT)**

"Jack… please… Jack…" Emily desperately raced across the beach behind him.

"I said what I came to say, Emily. There's no need for you to follow me home." His strides placed him ahead of her as she forced her to carry on and after a final sprint, she pulled him back to face her and speak. "What do you want?"

"You've known… all these years, you've known." She inhaled deeply, as she spoke breathlessly. "You've known who I am and you never bothered to mention it. I've been in the house next door to you and you decided to keep schtum." Her eyes were filled with disbelief and betrayal, yet she knew she didn't deserve such a pedestal. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I should be the one to ask you that," Jack retorted.

She brushed the blonde strands from her face. "You've been married to Aman –" she frowned, "Emily, all these years."

He licked his lips, "We share a son. My only son, Emily. What more could I have done? I watched Declan suffer without a mother for most of his childhood and there's no way I would inflict that kind of pain on my son." Jack's eyes returned to Grayson Manor and he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "Even if I'm not his fan, Daniel doesn't deserve that pain either after what his family's choices have placed upon him. He lost plenty. He didn't need to lose you."

"But, what… what, now?" Emily asked quietly. "I mean, you'll just never mention it?"

"I've kept my silence for almost 20 years, Emily. Like my dad used to say; why change the habit of a lifetime?" He shook off the shivers that crawled around his spine in the midst of their confrontation.

Emily's eyes started to water under the pressure. "Jack, there's so much I've wanted to say..." Before Amanda's sudden reappearance, Emily had planned her exact speech. Yet, all these years on, she was speechless. "If I could have done things differently…" Her attempt at an explanation sounded pathetic to her ears.

For the first time since their reunion, a kind, if not half-hearted, smile spread on his lips. "You did what you needed to do. It's taken me years to come to peace with that, but I can accept it, if not understand it. Despite it all, we're both here with healthy and beautiful children. I couldn't be prouder of my son," he proudly claimed. "Look, we're both from broken homes. Neither of us want our children to suffer the same fate and that's the only reason I kept your dirty little secret." He looked out onto the distance and breathed in the air from the ocean, as if to release the bitterness from him. "Just accept the box… and take care of yourself, huh?"

He turned to walk away but she called him back, "Jack…" she smiled weakly and mouthed, "Thank you."


	13. Undesired Destiny

"_Every man has his own destiny; the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him_." - **Henry Miller**

* * *

"Whoa… he knows," Nolan spluttered his coffee. "I mean, he's known?"

"Amanda cracked, after Conrad's arrest. She broke down and told him the truth," Emily confirmed in shock, still riddled with confusion since Jack's revelation. "She had it in her head that, once I made the Grayson's pay, I would want Jack for myself and she decided to confess before I had the chance."

"A stripper with a heart," Nolan purred. "Classic."

"Well, she's softened since her juvi days. When you have it all, you have it all to lose and she had it all with Jack." A rare pang of sympathy curdled in Emily's stomach and she sipped her coffee, "But I need to focus on Sophia. She and Charlotte have seen the Infinity Box and they've rooted inside it. I can't be certain, but I don't think they've taken something from it. Amanda's promised me she had them convinced it was hers, so their suspicions should have died down. All I need to do is find a secure place to hide it."

Nolan leaned his sleek physique onto the table and pursed his lips, "Why not burn it?" Her eyes flared furiously at the idea and Nolan flew back into his seat. "You're not the same person anymore, Em. Why keep it, if you don't need it?" His face rounded, his jawline softened, and he smiled, "By all means, keep your fathers' letters to you. But the diaries… they're from your past. Who needs to be reminded?"

She knew, from experience, that Nolan had her best interests at heart. "I'll think about it," she relented.

"Thank you," he appeared relieved.

"Hey, mom, uncle Nolan," Charlotte bounded down the stairs, "Have you seen Sophia?"

"Not since breakfast," her mother recollected, as Jacob and Hannah chased after one another and raced outside. "Are the two of you okay? You've both seemed very _preoccupied_ recently."

"Don't worry, mom. We're okay," Charlotte assured. She followed her brother and sister outside and settled down at the edge of the pool, where she pulled out her cell and dialled Sophia. Just when Charlotte anticipated the voicemail, Sophia clicked on, "Soph, where are you? I've had a new idea, about Amanda's box. Are you home soon?"

"I'm kind of busy," Sophia blandly answered.

"Okay, well, when you're back we'll talk." Her sister responded, as Sophia coldly ended the call.

The cold wind played with Sophia's raven strands, as she stood beside Charlotte, Victoria and David's places of burial. She admired the playful font that spelt Charlotte's name and knelt down to touch the shimmered stone. Her eyes fell to the name of Victoria, then to David's, and her stomach churned. The discovery of the box had only provoked Sophia's curious nature and the supressed emotions of sadness that she had never known her father's family well. A male voice broke her from her tormented reverie, "Excuse me, Miss Grayson?"

She rose to her feet, startled by the elderly man. "Who wants to know?"

After Charlotte's temporary abduction to Conrad's cell, Sophia remained wary. He removed a black glove and extended his hand to formalise the introduction, "I'm a friend of your mothers. I knew your Grandmother well. Allow me to express my belated yet sincere condolences for her _misfortune_."

Sophia nodded, "Thank you."

"Acceptance of a loss is always difficult. But acceptance can be strenuous when the death's unexpected," he noted. Her eyes returned to Charlotte's name and she softly nodded her head once more. "A wise man once declared; fear not death, for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal."

"Benjamin Franklin," she deduced.

"Ah, you're familiar with him. I should have anticipated as much," he admitted. "Come child…" His free hand directed her inward of the cemetery and she awkwardly followed him. They walked in silence for a few moments, before he stopped to admire the clouds above him. "A man's destiny can only be defined at the end of his journey. Time has come for me to accept my journey has almost reached its end but my destiny still awaits fulfilment."

"I don't understand…" Sophia murmured, not even sure why she trusted this man to walk with him.

"Many years have passed since I became acquainted with your mother. I appointed myself her sensei. I directed her to fulfil her own destiny, in order to fulfil mine but it is only now I can truly comprehend the reason for my being." His eyes continued to darken, and Sophia did her best to avoid direct contact. The wrinkles on his face appeared like a map to his very soul and she remained uncharacteristically silent as his words spoke a cryptic chorus. "The box was only the very start of your discoveries, Sophia. Your mother's secrets are far too protected by the walls strategically placed around her heart to imprison the emotions she cannot bear to face."

Sophia's mind reeled, "My mothers' secrets?"

His body stiffened, yet his hand slid underneath his coat and revealed a brown envelope. "The answers to your questions can be found if you followed the trails enclosed in this envelope. My ability to pilot your path has been eliminated, but greater forces will ensure your journey is not averted."

If it weren't for the envelope, Sophia would have given way to the pleas from her conscience to run and hide from the philosophical man; his words of wisdom felt like a call to her heart. She readily ripped open the envelope and found the mug shot of Amanda Clarke pinned to a record of juvenile detention. Her body slumped to the nearest bench, as she studied the document. The **ALLENWOOD** stamp barked at the forefront of the document barked at Sophia, before her eyes trailed toward the name; **Thorne**,** Emily**. Sophia's head snapped, "That's my mother's –"

Already, the man had prepared his escape. The door to the black limousine slid open and Takeda met Sophia's eyes with an ounce of hidden disappointment, perhaps in himself. "The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."

Sophia looked from him, to the documents he had provided, unsure where to turn. "Hold on… hey –"

And with that, he climbed into the limousine where his partner-in-crime awaited his return. His destiny had finally been fulfilled and for such, he would be rewarded. For Takeda knew from experience, every man must accept their destiny, no matter where it leads them.


	14. The Truth

**A/N:** Okay, so I've already mentioned that I'm not a massive fan of author's notes but there's no way I could let the premiere of Revenge season 2 air in America without letting out one massive "yaaaaaaayy!" because - although I haven't seen the episode "Destiny" - I've heard that Queen V's alive and I've seen the promo for "Ressurection" and, in the words of Fauxmanda, the bitch is back ;)

* * *

"_The truth always comes out. It's one of the fundamental rules of time. And, when it comes out, it can either set you free or end everything you've fought so hard for_." – **(unknown)**

* * *

Darkness prevailed over Grayson Manor and Daniel casually stretched out on the sofa, more relaxed than usual. His eyes tore away from the television, where ABC premiered another Lifetime movie and looked into the office, where Emily and Nolan poured over NolCorp's financial accounts. If he were any other man, Daniel would feel threatened by Nolan and Emily's close bond but, after Tyler's eventful stay in the Hampton's, Daniel knew better than to be concerned.

His eyes rolled over toward Charlotte, who cuddled both Jacob and Hannah. Her sisterly role always seemed to deviate to a more maternal one, and Daniel knew she would make an incredible mother someday. "They're so peaceful."

She noted his reference, "They're exhausted. We played on the beach for hours, even I'm tired."

"We'll settle them upstairs once your mom's done." Daniel whispered, "It's nice to see you spend time with them. They always miss you so much when you're away. So does Sophia," he frowned. "She seems to have disappeared since breakfast. Have you any idea where she is?" Charlotte shook her head, oblivious to her sisters' whereabouts. "She's probably –"

The door slammed shut, furiously, and Sophia flew into the office until she came face-to-face with her mother and Nolan. A brown envelope filtered out several documents and she twisted the juvenile record of Amanda Clarke, with Emily's face attached to it. Her eyes were wild with accusation, "Tell me they faked it." Her demands came one after another and soon the entire family became distracted by her confrontation, "Tell me someone has it out for you. Tell me there's some stupid mistake been made. Tell me my mother's not a stranger, tell me my entire childhood hasn't been a sham." Sophia relented and she blinked back the tears of betrayal, "Tell me you're not Amanda Clarke."

**(FLASHBACK)**

_"…a healthy baby girl, Mrs Grayson."_

_In the aftermath of endless labour pains, Emily didn't hear much, but she heard that. Her first born child was healthy, and she looked perfect. Rosy cheeks, hazel eyes and wisps of brunette wrapped in a fuchsia coloured blanket. "Girl…"_

_Her husband choked back the tears, his eyes widened in awe at Emily. "Did you hear that, Em?" Daniel leaned forward and planted a ferocious kiss on her forehead, "We did it. You did it," he babbled on, as the nurse approached. "Here, you should hold her before me." He backed away from the nurse and watched proudly as Emily accepted the new-born._

_Joyful tears escaped the brim of her eyes, "She's beautiful."_

_"I'm so proud of you," Daniel pressed his body as close as the hospital bed allowed. "Both of you." His hand covered the size of the baby's head as he touched her for the first time in admiration. "Can you believe it?"_

_The Grayson family of three cherished the peace of the hospital, for the few hours after the birth, before Nolan appeared. "Hey, hey, hey," he burst in. "Now, I know I'm far from the three wise men but I am here with gifts for the baby, and you. Since you're officially tee-total," he spoke to Daniel. "I decided on… non-alcoholic Champers!" Nolan scanned the hospital room absent-mindedly, "I don't see cups anywhere. Would you mind?"_

_Reluctant, yet too cheerful to dismiss Nolan, Daniel chuckled. "I'll be back as soon as I can."_

_Once Daniel headed toward the cafeteria, Nolan rolled his eyes overdramatically, "I didn't think he'd ever leave. Well, well, well, Mary, Mary, quite contrary…" he peered carefully down at the baby. "You didn't do too badly. They're not always adorkable at such an early point, but she's inherited some good genes. Not that she looks like you…" his face scrunched, as he viewed the new-born with caution. "I mean, she does. She has to, right? But…" Nolan swallowed down the verbal-vomit and restarted, "She'll evolve."_

_Emily couldn't help but smile at him, "Thank you, uncle Nolan."_

_"Uncle Nolan, huh?" He raised an eyebrow, "I suppose, I can handle that. Listen, Ems –" The atmosphere became deadly serious and Nolan saw her face fall, so decided not to approach that topic. "Does she have a name as of yet?"_

_"Charlotte Rose Grayson," she declared. Their eyes met, and Nolan knew how much the name meant to her and Daniel. "Nolan, I know you want to ask." A heavy burden could be heard in the way she let out an inhaled breath, but she didn't scowl, for once. "I know, I promised once Conrad was arrested, the whole scam would be over but…" How could she explain her change of heart? Luckily, from Nolan's kind eyes, she didn't have to._

_"There's no need to explain. Your secrets," he pressed his finger over his lips to make a zip formation._

_"I found these so I hope they're okay," Daniel returned with three plastic cups. Nolan burst open the Champagne and poured them each a generous amount before he held his cup out, "To Charlotte Rose Grayson."_

**(PRESENT)**

Panicked and insecure, Nolan's eyes snapped toward Emily for direction. "Maybe I should…"

"Stay where you are, Nolan." Emily ordered, yet her demand sounded more like a desperate plea. She returned her focus to the record of her stay at Allenwood and shook her head. "Sophia, where did you find this?"

Slowly, Daniel rose from the chair and started to approach. His wife held her head in her hands, and Nolan looked equally nervous, while Sophia's stance was one of a solider prepped for the heat of the battle. "Babe," he whined. "Are you okay?" His eyes noted the picture on the table and he did a double-take before he noticed the picture was Emily. Her eyes were the clue but her pale complexion and dark hair looked worlds away from the woman he loved.

Their second eldest pressed her nails onto the document, "_Amanda_?"

"Amanda," Daniel muttered in confusion.

"Where did you find this?" Emily shoved the documentation of both her and Fauxmanda's stay at Allenwood and she met Sophia's eyes. Never had her child looked at her with such contempt, which was why she hoped the truth would never see freedom. She did all she could to supress Daniel's confusion, as she focused on Sophia's knowledge.

"I deserve an answer from you," Sophia snapped.

"We know, and you'll have one if you would please just calm down?" Nolan stepped forward, his hands rested on the child's shoulders in an attempt to soothe her indescribable confusion, maybe even momentary hatred.

"Someone explain to me what the hell this is all about," Daniel started to yell, which only disturbed his youngest children, who shuffled with their heads on Charlotte's knees. Everyone shot a look toward them, where she met Sophia's eyes, who told her they had found a well-buried secret, and it involved the box and Conrad. "Sophia," he forced her to face him. "If you're confused, hurt… just explain to me what the problems is, and we'll work it out."

His words reverberated in her brain and Emily finally snapped into action. She rounded the desk in the office and pulled the father-daughter duo apart, "Leave her alone, Daniel."

"Soph," Daniel pleaded.

"Daniel, c'mon, let me deal with this, okay?" Her tone became short, and annoyed.

However, Daniel had already followed Sophia's eyes to the document and he surveyed it for a second time and his eyes were much more intrusive for information. The problem clicked into place when he noticed the name on the document and read loudly, "Clarke, Amanda. Amanda Clarke." He shook his head in defiance. It couldn't be.

She looked at her husband and watched the resentment set in, once the truth hit him. Her expression clicked into an emotionless look and she snatched the documents from the desk. "Nolan, could you take Jacob and Hannah to yours?" Her friend looked wary, and Sophia placed a hand over her open mouth. "We need to have a discussion, and I don't want them to witness or overhear what we have to say." She nodded her head, "It's okay, Nolan. I'm okay."

"I'm not," Daniel protested. "I don't want my children with him. I mean, he has to be part of this? He must have known."

"Nolan would never hurt our children, Daniel. And I would never take them away from you." She retorted, her response both painful and ironic, "No one's known the loss of a father the way I have and I wouldn't wish that on anyone much less our own children."


	15. Overdue Confession

"_There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel that no one else has a right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution_." – **Oscar Wilde**

* * *

The bitterness and aftermath of betrayal that Emily had once succumbed to had returned. Except, the emotions were in the eyes of the ones who loved her, and she loved in return, and they were aimed in her direction.

The house empty but for the four of them, she stood tall. "How d'you want to play this? You could tell me where you found these documents, let me know what you know and then I'll explain. Or I can just tell you…"

"We're not in the middle of Scrabble, mom." Charlotte frowned. "We don't discuss the rules, because they're not up for debate. Sophia's laid her cards on the table so maybe you should." She returned to the sofa, where Daniel stood behind, his eyes stuck on Sophia, who had taken residence in what was his mother's favourite seat.

"Do you want the why's?" Emily eyed her husband, "Or the how's first?"

"The truth," he croaked.

"Then, maybe we should speak alone before I speak to our children, Daniel, because there's events that you've witnessed and experienced, memories you'll recall and they won't understand." Her eyes pleaded with him, "There's no way I could possibly escape the truth here, Daniel. I just want to make it easier for you comprehend."

"So I'm easier for you to manipulate for the second time?" Daniel barked, his hands on the back of the sofa.

"Come on, Soph. Why don't we let them have a moment alone?" Always the reasonable one, Charlotte stood and plucked her sister from the seat, "Maybe then, you can explain where you've been all afternoon."

"Thank you, baby." Her mother called after Charlotte, but no response came. Not even the flicker of a smile was returned. Already, before she had the chance to explain, the family bond had been tarnished. Emily forced the worry from her mind and decided to focus on Daniel. "Before I explain, can you hear me when I say how much I love you? We didn't meet as some coincidence, but I didn't marry you out of spite either, Daniel. I had already collected the evidence to restore my father's innocence before we married. I married you because I fell in love with you," she confessed.

"Is that why you came here?" Daniel asked, "To take my family down, and ensure your father's name would be restored. Because you've really outshone expectations, haven't you?" He forced himself to chuckle, "I mean, my mother's dead, my father's spent the past nineteen years in federal prison and you even knocked Charlotte out the equation." A sickened look appeared and he frowned, "Did she even matter to you, or where you too hell-bent on destruction?"

"You weren't the only one to mourn your sister when she died," Emily simply responded. "I knew your mother had been involved with my father but I had been completely unaware of Charlotte's paternity."

"And I suppose you planned for her to find out," Daniel checked.

"Not like _that_," she confessed.

"You're the reason she took comfort in those pills, you know that?" He could barely look her in the eye and rubbed his face with his hands as an exasperated moan escaped him. "So you came here, to make my parents pay for what happened. How exactly did you intend on doing that, Amanda? Did you plan this sick scheme from the age of 9?"

She huffed and collapsed on the sofa. If she were to recall it, the story started from her father's arrest. "My father and I were home alone when the FBI raided our house to arrest him. They came from nowhere and snatched him away. I don't remember much afterwards; I think they sedated me. I woke and found myself questioned by an inexperienced child psychiatrist. Dr Michelle Banks," she rose her voice and Daniel noted the name. "She had next to no patience and no passion for her career choice. She didn't even like children, and she made her dislike of me clear from the start." Emily's hands clasped and she nervously fiddled, "They wouldn't let me see my father and I endured several sessions as they did whatever they could to restore the _normal_ child they hoped me to become. Reporters, like Mason Treadwell, were provided with a free pass to interrogate me about my father's crimes and when I read the book written in detail about the monster my father I had been, I allowed them to convince me my father was an evil monster."

Daniel forced himself not to feel for her horrific childhood. "Then, what happened?"

"My father faced life imprisonment, and I endured foster care. I had somewhat of a penchant for flames," her sly Amanda Clarke smirk spread across her lips. "So when my second foster home burnt down, I found myself locked in Allenwood juvenile detention centre with the _spirited_ Emily Thorne as my cellmate from block E."

"She's the other Amanda Clarke?" Daniel nodded.

"We weren't always the best of friends, but we earned mutual respect. My problems with my father and his crimes loomed over me and my warden offered me an outlet. She had _contacts_," Emily confessed. "Anyway, I survived 2 years in juvi and escaped only to find a new kind of prison lay in wait for me in the form of Nolan Ross. He had known my father before his arrest and had been in contact with him, even a few prison visits over the years. By the time I had been released, my father had been murdered in prison. But Nolan provided me with the Infinity Box. Letters from my father and diaries that had accounts of his trial, conviction and time in prison." She shuffled forward, "Nolan attempted to convince me of my father's innocence but my resentment had been buried so deep inside of me that I refused to accept."

"But something must have changed your mind eventually," Daniel's hard voice barked back. "You're here, aren't you? My father's the one in prison, my mother's dead. Why did you come back?"

"For the few months after my release, I avoided the Infinity Box. New Years' Eve '03 rolled around, and I needed to come back to the home I had known. It had always been our favourite holiday." Ghost smiles prevailed on both Daniel and Emily's face as they reminisced on their childhoods. "My house had been empty and I broke in. The memories almost knocked me from my feet, and I read my father's journals. I knew I owed my father the chance, so I found a way in. The annual New Years' celebration would be held at Grayson Manor and I became hired help for the occasion."

Daniel scoffed, "My mother must be sorry she didn't notice that."

His wife rose an eyebrow and continued, "I came face-to-face with the people who framed my father and had been rewarded with entrance into your parents' kingdom in return. Except, not everyone remained carefree. My father noted Roger Halstead as a friend and someone I could count on. He promised to help me expose them, but someone had him murdered before he had the chance, Daniel."

He frowned, unable to accept such an accusation. "They said he committed suicide."

Emily sadly, and slowly, shook her head. "Appearances are made to deceive." She exhaled, "I decided, from that point on, I needed to make your parents pay for what they did and I returned to Warden Styles from my stint in juvi. Daniel, one of her contacts became the person who helped me create the person I am today. Satoshi Takeda," she confirmed.

"Mr Takeda?" Daniel's eyes widened.

"I knew him, before I discovered him at one of the Grayson's Global's events. He conducted an expertly ran Revenge school, if you can call it such, and I trained with him as my sensei for years. In 2011, I came to the Hampton's as Emily Thorne and I prepared my takedown of the Grayson family." Her words croaked from the dryness of her mouth but she forced the words to come out, "I provoked your parents' divorce, I ruined Bill Harmon and the Senator, I kidnapped Dr Banks, set fire to Treadwell's house and –"

Daniel's body stiffened, "Murdered Tyler?"

Complete faith lost between them, Emily shook her head. "Daniel, of course not. Not directly, at least. Takeda murdered him. He knocked you out, when Tyler threatened to reveal my identity to you." She scanned the room carefully and let her eyes naturally fall back to her husband for reassurance. "There's so much, I couldn't possibly explain, but the important part is that I completed what I hoped to achieve. Your mother prepared to provide her statement to the SEC and all of the evidence had been collected for trial."

He became colder still, "I expect my mothers' death shattered your perfect happily ever after?" Daniel started to wonder how his mother would have reacted to the recent revelation, or if she had known from the start. She always disliked Emily.

"Nolan had thankfully backed-up the evidence. Once the shock of Charlotte and Victoria's deaths had passed, Nolan and I re-alerted the SEC to the evidence and Conrad was arrested." She noticed Daniel's eyes flare with expectation. "But, even after your fathers' arrest, I married you, Daniel. Because I loved you then, and I love you still."


	16. No Greater Agony

"_There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you_." – **Maya Angelou**

* * *

"So you came into our lives," Daniel heaved himself from the sofa, "And you were determined to be cold and ruthless, and to destroy our lives. And not once did you have any seconds thoughts about it?"

"Daniel, of course I did…" she protested.

"When?" Daniel demanded, "Obviously, not when it counted or my mother wouldn't be dead."

She smoothed her hands over her skirt and let out a heavy breath. "You can blame all you want for your mother's death, Daniel, but you and I both know that had your father's prints all over it. Seems to have been his style way back when," she murmured underneath her breath.

He narrowed his eyes, "What does that mean?"

"It means your mother forced herself into that situation, Daniel." Emily coldly responded. "Second thoughts? Yes, Daniel, of course I had second thoughts, several times, but I came to the Hampton's to avenge my father and I had spent years in preparation for it. I did what needed to be done, for me, for my father, for the victims of that plane crash and the people who mourned them. Daniel, don't you see the kind of horrors your parents inflicted on others?"

Emotions seethed inside Daniel and his expressions reflected every one. He started to pace back and forth, until Emily's final question and he froze on the spot. "My parents weren't monsters, my mother didn't deserve to die."

"I didn't come to inflict _physical_ pain on your family, Daniel," she confided.

"No, you _just came_ here to inflict emotional torture on my mother for a mistake she made. Did you ever consider that she was just human, Emily? She made a difficult decision to protect her family, to keep me with her always." The same old regret appeared in his eyes, "She deserved more loyalty than I awarded her with, and I'll never move past our final words."

"Daniel, don't you see –" Emily frowned, "You were loyal. Don't you remember what happened when the truth about Charlotte's paternity came out? She led you to believe she had been attacked." She backed down, and allowed herself to calm down for a moment. Their eyes met and she pleaded with him, "Daniel, if it hadn't been for that, I would have called _us_ off because I didn't want to hurt you anymore but, when she started to spread those lies –" she shook her head, still unable to comprehend Victoria's betrayal. "I just went **mad**."

He pursed his lips, "That was it, your moment of regret?"

The table turned when Emily tilted her head, "What about your moment of regret, Daniel?" She challenged, and she looked more of a child than Daniel had ever witnessed before. "You knew how ruthless your father was. He confessed it all to you in that very office on the eve of your interview and you sat there and you defended him," her voice cracked. "You didn't say a word because you were determined to become your father's son."

Daniel swallowed the lump in his throat. It had been an in-the-moment decision, and the first _real_ Grayson move he had ever made. "Emily, I…"

She shrugged her shoulders, "You, what? You're sorry?" Emily shook her head, "I knew I had lost you, from that very moment, and that's what sent me into Jack's arms the day Sammy died. My head was filled with memories of the childhood I had lost, my heart ached… and I needed someone. I needed him because he was pure and honest, the kind of qualities I believed I had seen in you. That's what made you so special, Daniel. The way you were despite your parents, the outlook you had on the world and your expectations of it." Her mind fell back to the moment she had _really_ met Daniel Grayson and she quoted him, "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is. Infinite."

He frowned, in recognition, "William Blake…"

"Infinite freedom, Daniel. Freedom from the world's perception of a Grayson," she recalled. "Except, when you had that one chance to fly free from the Grayson name, you didn't."

"You expected me to betray my family?" Daniel shrieked.

"I expected you to become the man you said you wanted to be. The Daniel I fell in love with would never have allowed the truth to have stayed buried. He would have fought for justice," she argued. "Daniel, I know why you kept quiet. Part of me understands why you didn't expose Conrad. The same part of me that wished I could have protected my family from what happened." Emily's tone softened, "Sometimes, you can't choose where your loyalty lies."

"Is that it?" He suddenly asked, "Is that your explanation?"

"If your father had been taken from you, how would you have reacted?" Emily demanded, "Because it's easy to stand there and judge me, Daniel, but have you been in my shoes?" She spat her words with vicious incentive and her eyes darkened. "Foster families were too terrified to take me, people avoided me once they knew who my father was. They treated me as if I had been part of the conspiracy to take down that plane and I knew they wanted me dead, Daniel. And I wanted to be dead just as much." Her confession startled Daniel, "No one loved me, no one cared. When I came out of juvi, as far as I was concerned, my father had murdered innocent people. Of course, Nolan tried to explain but I didn't want to hear it. Before I knew the truth, I didn't have a reason to exist, Daniel."

"What, am I supposed to feel sorry for you?" Her husband bellowed, "No matter what your reasons, you are still the one responsible for my mother's death, and even Charlotte's. No matter your intentions, you caused that, Emily! You killed them. And now you've destroyed my family for the second time! So here," he offered. "Congratulations."

His hands started to clap loudly and Emily bowed her head. "What about the girls?"

Daniel stopped and stared, "What about them?"

Emily shrugged her shoulders and let the movement flow to her waist. "Obviously, they'll expect an explanation. I just need to be clear on what you want them to know about your family when I try to explain."

"The truth," he confirmed.

"The truth about your mother and my father? The way she seduced him, allowed him to be used as a scapegoat for your father's crimes," Emily recounted. "Kept his children from him, Charlotte and me." Daniel looked confused, "She had me placed under psychiatric care, Daniel. If anyone's to blame for my childhood, it's Victoria. I just needed to be sure that you're ready for our children to hear the truth about your precious mother when she's not here to defend herself."

"You hated her, didn't you?" Daniel realised, "You always have done." He shook his head sadly, "Even the fact that she did love your father and that she prepared to prove his innocence. It was never enough for you, was it?"

Her silence answered his question and she raised her eyebrows, "Are we done here?"

Daniel nodded, "Yeah, we're done."

"Then I'll fetch Charlotte and Sophia. It's time for them to know the truth," she remarked. As she started to leave the room for her children, Emily turned back to face her husband, "Oh, and, Daniel…" his eyes looked into hers. "Don't try and take my children away from me because you'll live to regret it. My father may have backed down and allowed your mother to destroy his family but I won't let you do the same just because your precious ego's been damaged."

A bitter chuckle erupted from him, "And there it is! The other side of Emily Thorne that my mother did all she could to make me see."

Emily shook her head, "No, Daniel. Not Emily Thorne," she corrected. "Amanda Clarke."


	17. The Consequence of Victory

"_Victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay its price_." –** Sun Tzu**

* * *

"…I cannot describe the ache in my heart, to not have been able to tell you about your Grandfather." Emily made her whole-hearted confession to her eldest children, "He has such a special place in my heart. A place I have never been able, a place I have never allowed myself to open to you both until now…"

Charlotte and Sophia shared a look of unadulterated confusion. They felt as if the entire world had been removed from its axis and rolled around the universe for fun. Now that their mother had finally concluded her confession, the room started to determinedly spin. Charlotte's eyes tore back to her mother, and then to her father, who avoided the scene before him. "I don't know what to say, mom." They had always known the consequences of Conrad and Victoria's actions for David but they had no idea that Amanda had suffered so much. And to think their mother _was_ Amanda, only confused the situation.

"Tell me how you feel," her mother suggested.

"How're we supposed to feel?" Sophia snapped, "I mean, I would hate to upset you, since we know now what happens when dear little Amanda Clarke doesn't like what she hears."

"Sophia, don't talk to your mother like that," Daniel's voice finally entered the equation.

"What, you'll defend her?" His child protested, "After the lies she's told you? Daddy, she's made a fool out of you!"

"And that affects you, how?" Her father barked, and she reluctantly backed down. Daniel started to calm down and made himself walk closer to the women, who were sat in debate on the sofa's. "Show your mother some respect," he requested.

"Respect?" Sophia repeated, her voice much more quieter but still irrational. "She's let you believe she loved you, all these years, when all you were to her was another pawn to put the king in check."

Emily scooted forward, "If I didn't love your father, why would I have stayed, Sophia?"

Her child didn't answer but Charlotte's eyes welled with tears. "Mom…" she waited for the attention of her family. "If we hadn't found the box, or Sophia didn't find your records from juvi, would you have ever come clean? Or would you have kept the truth from us, for all these years, and let us live our lives as just another lie?" Her mother remained silent and Charlotte plucked the courage to pressure her for a response. "C'mon, mom. Twenty years," she reminded. "Wasn't there a moment when you came close to the truth?"

Her mother nodded, "Once, twice maybe." Emily's mind slowly unfolded back years, until she relived the moment Daniel almost discovered, for himself, the _real_ woman he had married.

**(FLASHBACK)**

_Intrusive spectrum of colours faded to white and Emily's eyes fluttered open. "Daniel…"_

_Her weakened croak came from cracked lips and her husband instantly appeared beside her with a plastic cup of water as she studied the four peach-tinted walls that surrounded her bedside. "Welcome back. You're in the hospital."_

_After a couple of needy swallows, Emily's eyes shot toward her mildly deflated stomach. A stomach she had previously proudly paraded around the Hampton's, prepared and anxious to introduce their second child to the world. A tear came to her eye as she looked to him for an explanation, "She's not –"_

_Daniel soon realised what Emily assumed and chuckled, "Of course not. She's perfect. But you did collapse."_

_"Hmm…" she had hazy memories of deep abdominal pains and rush of blood before her world blacked out._

_"The doctors had to perform a caesarean-section, but you're okay. You need to keep rested, try not to overdo it, which is probably why this happened." His voice merely scolded, but showed his open concern. "They're not sure if the operation may affect your ability for a natural birth in the future but they'll discuss that with you when you're more awake." Daniel removed the blonde hair from her face and let her adjust some, before he continued. "They let me stay with you for some of the operation. Apparently, people tend to babble under the anaesthesia and you're no exception."_

_She became nervously alert, "What did I say?"_

_A secretive smile passed over Daniel's lips and he looked serious. "You spoke your heart, told me the truth, and now I'm onto you…" Daniel clutched her hand in his, as she desperately attempted to read him._

_"What, Daniel? What did I say to you?" Emily couldn't prevent the panic within._

_"Well, you weren't completely coherent but you told me that you weren't the woman I loved." Daniel tilted his head aside, "And you told me that my mother had always been onto you, that I should have taken heed of her advice. You may have even mentioned that you were a better person because of me." He smirked, satisfied with Emily's nervous twitch. "What else would you have said to me? I don't think you could possibly keep a secret from me."_

_His wife smiled weakly, "You know me too well."_

_Daniel looked bewildered, but decided to dismiss the weird tension. "Well, then, would you like to hold your daughter?" Her eyes filled with joy and Daniel turned behind him, where Emily hadn't noticed the hospital cot with their more than contended new-born. "She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he proudly stated._

_She rolled her eyes, "You have to say that, you're her father and you said the same about Charley."_

_"Because they're both beautiful." Daniel compounded, as he lifted the new-born baby from her cot and she remained as silent as she could be but for her tiny breaths. "Here, come and meet your mommy, baby Grayson."_

_The very instant the dark-haired new-born left her father's arms and rested her cheek on Emily's chest, she started to cry. Despite the initial rejection, Emily found the humour in the moment and pouted, "Well, I think we're pretty clear that she's destined to be daddy's little princess." Her tease sparked a laugh from Daniel, who watched the moment with pride and anticipation. "Which would make it neutral, since Charley follows me everywhere." Emily's eyes lifted from the baby to her husband and she exhaled, "I'm sorry. Some part of you must be disappointed. I know you hoped for a boy."_

_Daniel shook his head vehemently, "Don't be silly. Happy and healthy are all I'll hope for our children. Besides," his left eye winked cheekily, "There's plenty of time for another unexpected arrival in the near future."_

_"Mmm," Emily smiled happily, "Well, before you plan ahead, our new baby here doesn't have a name yet."_

_Her husband squeezed her hand, "Since you made such a wonderful choice with Charley, I decided to let you take another shot." Daniel had never looked more sincere, "I know you named her after Charlotte for me, and I hope you'll let me return the favour if I can. Is there someone from your family you would want to name her after?"_

_Emily closed her eyes, pained. What Daniel didn't realise was his sister had already been named after her father's favourite aunt, which really already honoured the Clarke family. She let her shoulders fall, "I don't think so, Daniel."_

_Daniel nodded, "Okay, then. How about Sophia?"_

_"Is there any particular reason?" She checked, already warmed to the pretty name._

_"Well, actually the name's in the family. Not the Grayson family," he confirmed, "It's from my mother's side of the family." Daniel paused with caution, to see how Emily felt, before he explained. "My mother didn't exactly share an easy bond with her mother but she adored her grandmother. Her name was Sofia Adriani. She was Italian." He smiled fondly, "Anyway, my mother shared these fabulous stories about this dear, eccentric woman and…" he chuckled, "When I was 7, I made my mother a promise that, if I ever had one, I would name my daughter Sophia."_

_Emily smiled affectionately at him, "And you feel you owe it to your mother to keep that promise?" A small nod and smile came in return and Emily's smile widened, "Then Sophia Grayson it is!"_

**(PRESENT)**

"Well, she didn't." Sophia blandly retorted, to Charlotte's previous question.

"Because I love you, all of you," her mother croaked.

"Bull." Her daughter barked in return, as she leapt from the sofa. "You kept your secrets to save your own skin." Mother and daughter momentarily faced off before Sophia's mind kicked into flight-mode, and she started to run.

"Wait, Sophia –" Emily chased after Sophia, and her hand reached out for Sophia's arm.

She violently yanked herself away from her mother's touch and screamed, "Don't touch me."

Emily's eyes watered fast and furiously and she pointlessly did all she could to hold back the tears, to no avail. "I know you're furious, and I know you can't possibly understand…" she started to babble her words. "But I had reason, Sophia. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to think less of me!" In the background, Daniel snickered as he recalled the same plea his mother had made when she revealed Charlotte's paternity to him.

Sophia's eyes widened, and her mouth dropped. "Think _less_ of you?" A pause of tension suffocated everyone in the room before a fierce blur of raven curls bounded towards Emily and Sophia's arms violently lashed out. After her experience of martial arts, Emily had the reflexes to dodge her daughter's fury, but she didn't move. "I hate you!"

"Soph, stop it," Daniel raced forward and held her back.

Fresh from the attack, Emily held her hand to her nose and braced the pain as the blood started to run. Instinctively, her eldest ran to her side and placed a steady hand on her back, "Mom, are you okay?"

After what seemed to be an eternity, Sophia wriggled free from her father's arms and composed herself. A venomous look came from her emerald eyes and she stared her mother down, "If you really believe that you can come in here and shove a poor explanation in our faces and expect us to swallow it, you'll be sorely disappointed." Despite the resistance, Emily once more stepped forward and attempted to embrace Sophia, only to be shoved backwards. "I said don't touch me." The young girl backed away slowly from the confrontation, "You came here to destroy the Grayson family, well, mission completed, Amanda, because I never want to see _you_ again!"

Emily fought her tears, "I am your mother!"

"Mother?" Sophia screeched, "No, you're not." She shook her head, "You –You're dead to me."

One of the most powerful lessons Takeda had ever provided Emily with was from a Chinese philosopher named Confucius, in which Takeda provided her with one his most famous quotes; "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." And Emily now knew exactly what he meant. Because, years on, and Emily finally had to pay her price.


	18. Shattered Childhoods

"_All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair._" – **Mitch Albom**

* * *

A bout of torrential rain started to overcome to the Hampton's and Sophia fled desperately toward the Porter home. She needed to seek solace from Chris, even if it meant she had to shatter his world as hers had been. Her eyes momentarily darted back to Grayson Manor and her black curls started to stick damply to her face.

Inside her childhood home, Charlotte sensitively winced, as she wiped the blood from her mother's face. "Are you okay?"

"It's looks worse than it feels, but she packs one hell of a punch," her mother chuckled, in an attempt to lift the mood that sulkily surrounded them. Her attempt failed and she looked downwards, "Not just with her fist."

"I'm sorry for what she said to you," Charlotte replied.

"Well, your sister's always been hot-headed. It's the Grayson way, after all." Emily waved off the problem masterfully and looked over at Daniel, who darted back down the stairs with the rejected ice-pack. A heavy exhale escaped her lips and she let her forehead crinkle into a frown, "She wouldn't let you in?"

"She's not in her room. Her window's wide open," Daniel reported, with a panicked expression, and Charlotte and Emily instinctively leapt from their position. His hand snuck into his pocket and he tracked Sophia's number on his cell. After an eternity, which only truly lasted 30 seconds, the call went to answerphone and Daniel clenched his spare fist. "Sophia, I know you're confused and you probably need your space. Call me when you can, I need to know you're okay," he pleaded.

"She could be anywhere," Emily frantically remarked.

"I wouldn't bet on it, I'll make a call to Jack. It wouldn't surprise me if she showed up there," Daniel pointed out.

His wife shook her head and wistfully looked out the windows, "Maybe we should find her before she does? I mean, I can't be sure but I don't think Jack and Amanda ever told Chris. He doesn't deserve to find out –"

Daniel's face fell, "And Sophia does?"

"Of course not!" Emily harshly protested, "Look, maybe she'll call. In case she doesn't, I'll call Jack and make sure he knows the situation, just in case she does show up there. Maybe he can stall her until we make it over there. I'll make the call, just hold on here and then I have something I think you bother deserve to see." She proudly strode from the room and dismissed the several missed calls from Nolan, only to call Jack and warn him ahead of time of Sophia's knowledge. Once she made the call, and a brief text to Nolan to check in on her twin children, Emily returned to the living room with a small mechanism Nolan had provided her with, which she connected to the television. "Here, watch this?"

On the screen, Amanda's crushed childhood had been written upon her face.

"_Please, I need to talk to my daddy. Find the lady with the dark hair? She was there the night they took him away. He loved her and she loved him. They kissed on the lips, all the time. Just find her, I know she'll help us."_

"_Do you know the name of this woman?"_

"_Victoria. Please, I have to see him again."_

Suddenly, the screen blinked out and David Clarke appeared on the screen. His wrists were cuffed to the metal table as if he were a wild animal that needed to be confined. Opposite him, Mason Treadwell sat smug, as he embarked on his journey to stardom, even if he hadn't realised it yet.

"_I'm telling you, Victoria and I were in love. She was going to leave Conrad, and we were going to become a family."_

"_But Victoria's denying all of it."_

"_Okay, well… they must have gotten to her somehow."_

"_It doesn't mean anything without proof."_

"_What about the letter she wrote me?"_

"_It was unsigned. It could have been sent by anybody."_

"_Six months ago, Victoria gave birth to a baby girl. Her name is Charlotte. You want proof that I'm telling the truth. Ask her who the father is."_

The same interview continued to play on, and David became more confident in his accusation as time went on.

"_Do you know the name of my favourite aunt? The one who raised me. Well, Victoria does. Onethe day that she was supposed to testify, she fell ill. Weeks later, she gave birth to a baby girl. She named her Charlotte, same as my aunt. I think that she did it to send me a message; that the little girl she was raising with Conrad is mine."_

Torn between the screen, the tears in her mother's eyes and the horror in her father's, Charlotte's body stiffened as she listened to the man, who knew too well that a _mistake_ had not been made, but that his arrest had been on purpose.

"_Victoria only came to the courtroom twice. Once for the day of her testimony and then on the day that I was sentenced. On that day, she brought the baby, Charlotte. So beautiful… her eyes were so familiar. I barely heard the judge when he told me I would never leave this prison alive. Losing Amanda was hard enough, the thought of losing two daughters at once, it was unbearable."_

Daniel's eyes flickered to Emily from the screen, and the shudder in his breath became audible. Instead of the usual love-filled butterflies in his stomach, he felt a cold chill rise from inside of him when he looked toward the mother of his children.

"_Things aren't what they seem. I can promise you, Victoria Grayson had nothing to do with my arrest. If anything, she's another victim. The father of her child is in prison and she's being forced to raise our baby with the man, I believe, put me here."_

Silence deadened the air and Emily flicked off the television. "There are plenty more interview tapes. Nolan had them all encrypted on this," she removed the mechanism. Her eyes narrowed at Daniel, "My father never lost faith in your mother, Daniel. He always loved her and he accepted her betrayal, but I couldn't. I wouldn't," Emily confessed. "She could pretend she made her decision for you, and maybe some part of her did do it for you, but, ultimately, there was a choice between the love my father had for her and the life your father could provide. She made her choice. I made mine."

Daniel battled the sickness that threatened within him, and he stood behind his former opinion. "My mother made an error in judgement, which she did not deserve to pay for with her and her daughter's lives."

"_Mistake_ after _mistake_ after _mistake_, Daniel." The hatred became obvious in his wife's voice as she sarcastically mimicked his defence of his mother's participation in her father's downfall. "I am not proud of the choices I made, Daniel, nor the pain that I caused you, Jack, Charlotte and our children but, at least, I can call them my own."

The home phone started to sound off and the three Grayson's stood quietly, in the moment. "Leave it," Daniel barked, when Charlotte started to head for it. "The answerphone's on. We need to settle this." His eyes didn't leave Emily, and his stance stood tall. "If you had so much hatred for my mother, how can I be certain that you weren't the one who had that plane explode?"

She scoffed, "And ruin the chances of my father proven innocent? Oh, Daniel –"

"Hey, anyone home? It's Jack… Porter… I'm at Southampton Hospital… It's Sophia, there's been an accident –"

Daniel abruptly belted for the phone, only to be cut off by Emily, who reached it first. "Jack, what happened? Is Sophia okay? Tell me what happened," she impatiently demanded. Every possible scenario flew in and out of her mind and she clutched the phone, until she could be sure it would shatter underneath her touch. "Jack… please? Where's my baby?"


	19. There's No Such Thing As Coincidence

"_The probability of a certain set of circumstances coming together in meaningful (or tragic) way is so low that it simply cannot be considered a mere coincidence_." – **V.C. King**

* * *

**Raindrops splashed her face… headlights blinded her vision… tyres screeched… and the blow from vehicle took her breath away as her body flew backwards and upwards and she finally crashed to the concrete.**

* * *

"What if she dies?" Adrenaline pounded in every vein of Jack's body after the traumatic discovery of Sophia's body beside the road not far from his safe and secure Hampton's home. He wondered the kind of explanation he could provide for his son, who undeniably cared for the Grayson's second eldest. "Did you hear the doctors on the way here? Did they say if she had any chance at all?"

Trapped in the memory of the ambulance ride, Amanda snapped out of it with a shake of the head, "They were too busy to tell me what they knew, Jack. Besides, the doctor will be here soon. Hopefully, so will Emily and Daniel."

He checked his watch, "It's been an hour since I called them."

"Some of the roads are blocked off from the storm," she consoled. "I'm sure they'll be here as soon as they can." Her hand reached out to rub his back and offer some kind of consolation when the Grayson's burst onto the scene. "Jack," her head motioned toward the ER entrance, "They're here."

"Jack, oh my God…" Emily instinctively embraced him. "Where is she? Where's Sophia?"

"They've had her in the OR since we came in. The doctors should be here any moment," Amanda informed them, with a small smile at Daniel, who awkwardly held back with Charlotte beside him, as Emily clutched Jack's shoulders.

"Sophia Grayson's family?" A doctor appeared from nowhere, stood underneath the sign that pointed to OR3 and Emily's eyes instantly took note of the mint-coloured scrubs he wore, which were splattered with blood droplets.

"I'm her mother," Emily stepped forward.

"My name's Dr Kohl, I'm the on-duty physician," he explained.

His hand cheerfully stretched out and Daniel accepted the extended invitation, "How's our daughter?"

"She has a broken ankle which means she'll be on crutches for several weeks. Some ribs are broken and they've punctured the left lung but we have her on ventilator and that should heal soon." The doctor carefully eyed Daniel and Emily with an expression of caution, "What concerns me most is the internal bleed to her brain." Dr Kohl paused theatrically for the inevitable whimper that often came from family members of a patient in such a condition. "Sophia suffered extreme blunt trauma to the head when the car knocked her down," he explained. "For the moment, she's stable but we can't be sure how long she'll remain so unless I receive your permission to take her in and operate."

"Do it," Emily ordered.

"There's a risk," the doctor warned. "There's a very small chance that Sophia may suffer from cardiac arrest at some point of the operation. If she does, there's no guarantee that she'll survive the operation." His words offered a blunt realism, as he had always approached his profession with, "If we don't operate, she may die anyway." Dr Kohl paused and allowed for the silence to settle in, "I'll leave you to decide, but we're under pressure."

"She needs the operation," Emily repeated her previous command.

The doctor nodded and raced toward the OR, as the Grayson's and the Porter's faced one another down in the aftermath of Emily's revelation. The simple look of self-hatred in Emily's eyes was all Jack needed to know Sophia had discovered the truth about her mother and he allowed himself to release a breath held back. In some ways, he had expected the truth to be revealed since Sophia returned the Infinity Box to Amanda, which was why Jack had insisted that Chris spend some time away from the Hampton's with Declan. "The police probably need our statement," Jack started.

Daniel stepped before him and extended a hand to Jack, "Thank you. If you hadn't found her out there…" his eyes closed, horrified at the very prospect of the worst consequences.

Any previous tension between the two men evaporated, and Jack nodded. "Anyone would have done the same."

"Let us know how she is," Amanda requested, as she linked arms with her husband and the couple left the hospital.

"I should really call Nolan, let him know what's happened," Emily broke the unusual silence her family held and reached into her pocket for her cell. She didn't know it until she he answered the phone, but she really needed to hear Nolan's voice for the first time since her world had been shattered. "Hey, Nolan. I'm at the hospital… I'm okay, it's Sophia…"

When her voice started to crack, Daniel's protective nature took precedence and he took the phone from her hand and stepped to the side lines. "Nolan, it's Daniel. Can you keep Jacob and Hannah with you for the next 24 hours? We're at the hospital, there's been an accident with Sophia…"

Emily briskly brushed away the tears from her eyes and opened her arms to Charlotte for an embrace, yet her firstborn yanked back away from her touch. "Charlotte," she frowned.

Her daughter shed tears of her own, ones stemmed from frustration at loss of control, not to mention blame that needed to settle in someone's heart. "Are you happy?" She shrieked, "Your precious secrets have been outed and now Sophia could die because you've kept the truth from us for all these years." The accusation in her voice silenced Emily into an eerie and uncharacteristic speechlessness but Charlotte had already rolled into motion. "Did you hear the doctor? If Jack and Amanda hadn't found her beside the road, she would have died there. And you're the one to blame for that, mom. You were the reason she was out on the roads, you were the reason she left home. If it weren't for you, she wouldn't be here."

"C'mon, Charley, I know you're upset –" her mother pleaded.

"I'm more than upset." Once again, Charlotte backed away from Emily and shook her head, "Why couldn't you have just told the truth? When Victoria and Charlotte died, when your father was exonerated, when you married dad… you had plenty of chances but you just refused to come clean, and now look at what your lies have caused."

Back from the phone call, Daniel stepped in, "No one's to blame for what happened, do you understand me?" His voice was harsh as his eyes narrowed in Charlotte's direction, "Now, your mother and I are just as upset and worried as you are but it won't make Sophia feel any better if she wakes up to find that we can't come together in a crisis. No matter what happens, we need to stay and support one another, okay?"

"It's not okay, it'll never be okay," she sombrely stated. Her eyes fell to Emily and the prior love and affection had been completely removed from her eyes, "I don't want you here. After the stunt you've pulled, I'm not sure Sophia would want you here either."

"Charlotte –" her father barked.

"No, I mean it." Tears in her eyes, she stared her mother down. "For once, make the honourable choice. Leave."

A sickened pit of self-loathing stirred inside Emily's stomach and she nodded her head. "Okay, if you don't want me here. It's probably for the best anyway," she added, as consolation for Daniel, who prayed for some kind of compromise. "After today, I'm not sure it would be healthy for her to see me and become to stressed. She'll probably appreciate you beside her much more so I'll head over to Nolan's and check on Jacob and Hannah." Her fists clenched, in a botched attempt to keep the emotion bottled inside until she could make her escape, but the tears started to roll.

Charlotte stuck by her resolution, "I won't ask a second time, mom. Leave."

The sudden appearance of a man broke the family confrontation, "Mr and Mrs Grayson, my name's Detective Jonathon Kohl. I'll be the one to head Sophia's case for the foreseeable future."

Daniel frowned, "What case?"

"The car that hit your daughter didn't stop to check on Sophia," he explained, "You didn't know?" Three pairs of widened eyes stared back and Daniel shook his head in confirmation. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you. But I'm afraid the entire rationale of this accident only becomes murkier to work out." The Grayson family simply remained silent, eager for all the information the detective could provide. "My officers at the scene have reported back and they've determined that the car didn't attempt to break, at any point, before Sophia was hit." His brow creased, "Which means the driver may have been under the influence of alcohol, any kind of substance or –"

"Or what?" Charlotte demanded.

"Or someone may have tried to kill Sophia." He confirmed, "So early on, we can't rule out…"

His voice floated into the distance, and Emily's eyes snapped in another direction. And there he was; the unmistakeable shock of white hair and the same purposeful stride with his back to her eyes. After nearly 20 years, he had come back. It finally started to make sense, this was not coincidence.


	20. Fears and Promises

"_We promise according to our hopes, and perform according to our fears._" – **Francois duc de la Rochefoucauld **

* * *

In an inexplicable moment, Charlotte sensed an eeriness from her mother and followed her line of vision toward an elderly man not far down the corridor of the hospital. "Mom…"

He walked with his back to her but she didn't need to see his face to be certain. Any sense of self-control Emily previously harboured, despite Charlotte's quiet call, had dissipated and Emily launched in the white-haired man's direction. A swift kicked momentarily winded the man and she took the opportunity to pin him to the wall. "It was you, wasn't it?"

His reflexes kicked in, and Daniel raced behind her to tear Emily away from the man. "Emily, c'mon…"

"He did it, Daniel. He tried to kill Sophia. He murdered your mother and now he tried to kill Sophia," she cried out, as her husband desperately tore her away from the man, who wore a bewildered expression.

"Em, stop it." Daniel bellowed.

"Daniel, he did it –" Fresh from the attack, Emily took a real look at the man and froze in shock. "No, Daniel… it was –"

Her husband brushed her aside, "Stay here." He held her back and returned to Charlotte's side, who had already started to retrieve the man's wallet and other personal items from the floor as the elderly couple attempted to explain the situation that had literally kicked them in the stomach. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he softly spoke and touched the man's arm. "We've been under awful pressure, one of our children have just been involved in a hit-and-run…"

His explanation didn't wash and the couple made a brisk escape. Humiliation washed over Charlotte and the frustration rose inside her once more, "How dare you?" She shrieked at her mother and frowned, "Are you insane? God, mom…" she stormed down the corridor in the direction of the cafeteria.

Composed, Emily shook her head, "Daniel, please listen –"

Daniel exhaled, "There's no need to explain. These past few hours have been crazy and we just need to take a step back and calm down, okay? Sophia's only just been taken into surgery so we probably won't hear from the doctors for a couple hours, at least. Maybe you should head home, or make your way over to Nolan's to check on the kids."

"Please don't ask me to leave, Daniel," she cried. "Please don't, not when Sophia needs me."

"Sophia doesn't need you, Emily, she needs the doctors. The minute we hear from them, I'll call you. In the meantime, I think you, Charlotte and I just need to put some distance between ourselves." He offered advice, "When Sophia wakes, she will need a family at her side and if you and Charlotte are forced to stay within 100 yards of one another for another second more, I don't know if she'll have one left." His hands reeled her in and Daniel placed a tender kiss on her forehead, "Go home and I'll call you, the very second we hear from the doctors."

"Tell Charlotte I'm sorry?" Emily requested, before she made her way toward the exit of the ER.

Once Emily had left the hospital, Daniel retreated toward the cafeteria and discovered Charlotte tucked away in the corner of the hall with a cup of coffee between her palms. "It won't taste any better here than from the machines."

She shrugged her shoulders, "I just like to feel the warmth of it."

He collapsed into the chair opposite and leaned forward, his head rested in his hands. "I know how you must feel about your mom." When she opened her mouth to protest, Daniel's eyes pleaded, "Ever since you were a little girl, you never would tolerate dishonesty, or manipulation. Of everyone, the people you never expect to lie to you are your parents, and I understand the betrayal you feel more than ever because when I found out what my parents had done to David Clarke, I could never look at them in the same way after that. And even when my father had been the cause of the scandal, the one person I found impossible to comprehend was my mother and her role." He smiled, "You see, even after all she had done, she continued to claim to love David Clarke and I simply couldn't understand how she could betray the man she loved." Alarm appeared in Charlotte's eyes and Daniel shook his head in exasperation, "I'm not about to take you on a history lesson of the Grayson family because the story's old and tired, but the moral's the same for you and me."

Charlotte pouted, "And that would be?"

"No matter the façade my mother had played out, or the lies she had deceived me with, she had always been and always would be my mother and if I had the chance to rewind time, I would make sure she knew it before she ever stepped foot on that plane; I would like to think you would feel the same." He checked, his head tilted to meet her eyes.

"I don't know if I can," Charlotte confessed. "I supported her before, dad, because I wanted to believe that what happened didn't really make a difference, the only difference was her name was Amanda, but Sophia knew better and now so do I. A relationship can come from love, but the only reason it survives is because of the trust between two people and mom has deceived the people closest to her heart; you, Sophia, me and Jacob and Hannah. How can we possibly explain to them our mother's someone they used to know?"

"Charley, I don't have the answers for you," Daniel answered, "I can only speak from experience."

"But your mother didn't purposely deceive you." She interrupted him, "She didn't deceive Conrad. The only reason she didn't tell you is because she felt ashamed."

"And you don't think your mother feels ashamed?" He challenged, which silenced Charlotte. "Deep down, you know your mother would never set out to cause you, Sophia, Jacob and Hannah, or even me, pain." His hand squeezed hers, "We're a family; no matter how we came to be one. She's loved this family from the very start, always has, always will."

**(FLASHBACK)**

_Home from work, Daniel dropped his briefcase and headed immediately toward the nursery room. In her cot, Sophia rolled around in frustration as the tears streamed down her cheeks. "Hey, hey, hey… there, there."_

_In the corner of the room, Emily rocked back and forth in the rocking chair with her own tears. "She won't stop, Daniel."_

_The second Daniel scooped Sophia into his arms, her cries softened and Daniel chuckled, "She just needed a cuddle from her daddy when he came home from work, didn't you?" His voice softly soothed Sophia and his arms carefully bounced her with her cheek rested on one of his shoulders, "Where's Charlotte?"_

_"She's tucked in bed. She hasn't felt very well," Emily answered, "There's a bug at pre-school."_

_"I'll check on her soon, once Sophia's settled down," he promised._

_One of Sophia's blankets clutched in her hands, Emily shamefully shook her head, "I'm sorry, Daniel. I'm so sorry for what I've put on you." The more she confessed, the more emotion exploded from her and the tears started to roll, "Ever since Sophia and I came home from the hospital, I've been useless to her and to you. When she cries, I can never stop her and I don't even know why she cries; I've fed her and checked her diaper and rocked her and none of it seems to work. Then, all you need to know is cuddle her and she'll stop the second she's in your arms," she pointed out, as Daniel replaced Sophia back into the cot and wrapped her in a blanket. "Sometimes, it feels as if she doesn't like me very much."_

_Her husband's eyes became sorrowful, "Of course, she does, you're her mom. She loves you." His arms wrapped around her shoulders and shuffled her out of the room, "She just needs time to settle in and so do you. People don't consider how difficult the transition is from one child to two of them, especially when they're both under 5. Charley needs your attention but so does Sophia, and you've always been focused on just one and I'm at work more often…"_

_She brushed away the tears, "Sometimes, I look her in the eye and I feel as if… she knows."_

_"Knows, what?" Daniel humorously asked._

_"It's not important…" Emily shook her head, "She just seems to need you, more than she needs me."_

_"Baby blues are natural, you know?" He offered the usual explanation, even if he knew Emily would dismiss the idea. "If you maybe spoke to the doctor about the way you feel –"_

_"Daniel, stop it." Her brow creased, her eyes expressed disappointment, "I'm not ill. I don't need someone to come in and teach me how to become a mother because I did just fine with Charlotte and I'll do the same with Sophia, okay? Don't try and pretend I'm incapable because you know I'm more than capable –"_

_"I never said you weren't," Daniel frowned._

_"Promise me you'll never separate us?" She pleaded, and Daniel's eyes flared. "Promise me, promise me you'll never let anyone take our children away from us? No matter what happens, no matter what you find out… you know I love you, don't you? I love you, Daniel, I love you and Charlotte and Sophia… if I lost you…"_

_Her hysterical babbles only concerned Daniel more. "I promise you, we'll never be separated."_

**(PRESENT)**

Daniel reflected on his order for Emily to leave the hospital; promises are almost always broken.


	21. Chemicals React

"_The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed._" – **C.G. Jung**

* * *

Several missed calls from Daniel, even a few from Nolan, flashed on Emily's cell. She discarded her cell phone on the nearest surface and collapsed on the sofa in the den, where she pulled a blanket over her knees and hugged them closely to her chest. How had she reached such a point? She had alienated the people she loved, attacked an innocent man in the midst of her own paranoia and found herself lonelier than she had been as little Amanda Clarke all those years before.

"Emily…" Her husband's voice broke her thoughts, "Are you here?"

She noticed his shadow in the corner of her eye. Time couldn't have possibly passed for Sophia to be out of the OR, which meant Daniel had come to speak to her alone and out of Charlotte's earshot. "Where's Charlotte?"

"She's at the hospital. She knows to call me if there's any update on Sophia," Daniel answered. "I could be at the hospital, I could pace back and forth until my shoes wear down but I would rather be here, with you." Her eyes flickered toward him in confusion, "Because you and I need to decide our next move. Divorce, reconciliation… a broken family or one ready to stick the pieces back, whatever we decide, we need to stick to it because our children don't deserve the same instability they have been forced into because of our past."

"I've made my wishes clear to you, Daniel. I'm not sorry for the decision I have made; I needed to be able to prove my father's innocence, but I'm sorry for the way it's affected you, your family and our children." She brushed the blonde curls away from her eyes, "Your mother and your sister didn't deserve to lose their lives, besides physical pain had never been my aim. The way I predicted it, both of your parents would rot behind bars, and I don't apologise for that, Daniel, because that would still have been an easier fate that the one my father had succumbed to because of them."

"Well," Daniel softly exhaled, "At least, you're honest."

"And while I'm desperately sorry for the consequences of my actions, I've made apology after apology to you, to Sophia and to Charlotte but whatever I say doesn't seem to make any real mark," Emily added. "None of you believe me."

He squinted his eyes, "Where does that leave you and me?"

Emily's shoulders hunched over in an awkward fashion. "I'm not the one to decide, I'm not the one who can't move on. I love you, Daniel, and I love our family; I've turned blue in the face because I've told you so much. The question is, can you love me despite the decisions I've made, despite the crimes I've committed?"

As she lifted herself from the sofa, the couple stood opposite one another and Daniel searched her eyes. She didn't look any different. Affection, love and lust still remained in those blue eyes. So did an ache of vulnerability and fear of loss, as her hands clutched in the anticipation of the answer to her question. No matter her name; she had loved him, mothered his children, slept beside him for 19 years, comforted him and enamoured him. It sounded odd, but Daniel had lost the memory of how it felt not to love her or drown himself in the connection they shared. "Yes." His throat dried at the very confession, "Yes, I can," he repeated for clarification, "Because I don't know how not to love you."

A breath of relief escaped Emily's lips, "D'you mean that?"

Daniel's head bopped; there was no way he could deny it. Sometimes, history prevailed and his history had been with her and their children. "I have to believe that there's a way forward for us." After all, how could he possibly persuade Charlotte and Sophia to forgive their mother until he had done so himself?

"Daniel," Emily's body closed in on him, her arms squeezed around his chest. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. We've seen the worst of it but there's more to come." He warned, as their bodies parted. "Sophia's not out the woods, Charlotte's found it difficult to accept –"

Her forefinger reached his lips to silence him, calm him. "None of that matters, Daniel. Not if you can really stand beside me and show them a united front. We can work past this, Daniel." With every word, Emily finally started to believe that their family could be reconciled, she could rectify the havoc she had created; as long as Daniel meant it. She decided to test his words and her lips moved forward to his and she watched his eyes lull shut at her temptation.

The spark between them had remained as powerful as the love had done. His hands naturally slipped onto her waist and yanked her closer toward him; it seemed impossible to believe but the chemistry between them had only intensified since. Daniel's lips trailed from hers to her earlobe, where he nibbled, and slowly toward the neck. He could feel her nails trail tenderly through his strands of hair and his hand played with her blonde curls. In the heat of the moment, Daniel pulled back and looked her in the eye for the assurance she craved, "I meant it before; nothing's changed."

**(FLASHBACK)**

_The clean-up from another Grayson Global promotional event started at Grayson Manor but Emily bustled past the maids and stormed toward the master bedroom, with Daniel not far behind at his own pace of furiousness. "Emily!"_

_She barely looked backwards, "Save it, Daniel. I don't need an explanation."_

_Daniel raced to match her speed. It looked as if Emily's "baby blues" had finally dropped to another low point. "Why did you need to make such a scene? She's just an acquaintance of the company and we were in the middle of a business deal. There was no need for you to make such a fuss about it."_

_"Don't you dare patronise me!" Emily spun on her heels to face him, just at the point of the stairs. "She had her hands all over you and you didn't seem to object to it. If you want to sell yourself out for a business deal, you have carte blanche to do it, but not in our own home and in full view of everyone, all of our friends and our children." She started her way up the stairs but Daniel's hand clasped hers and yanked her backwards toward him, "Daniel."_

_"Are you done?" He checked._

_"Humiliation doesn't even cover the way I feel," his wife retorted._

_"Charley and Sophia are upstairs. They haven't witnessed a thing, not that there was anything to witness here because you have completely distorted the entire situation." Daniel calmly attempted to rationalise the confrontation._

_Emily scoffed. "I'm not an idiot, Daniel. I saw you with my own eyes, if anyone made a scene, it was you." One promise she had made to herself when she became Mrs Grayson; never become one of those wives. The ones who plastered a smile on their faces as they pretend their husbands hadn't publicly humiliated them, the ones who pretended life was perfect. It had never been Emily Grayson, nor had it ever been Amanda Clarke. "Do you continue to deny you had your hands all over her?" Determined, Daniel nodded his head and Emily's hand reached for the top of his shirt, "Then, naturally, you can explain the lipstick all over your collar?"_

_His eyes fluttered to the marble tiles and Emily took the chance to bolt toward her bedroom. "Emily!" On his way toward their bedroom, Daniel rubbed off the smudged lipstick from his white shirt and found her stood beside the bed._

_"Out," she ordered._

_"I didn't touch her and you know it," Daniel defended. "If I had done, I don't think you could blame me."_

_"Excuse me?" Emily shrieked, certain she had misheard him._

_"Well…" Daniel licked his lips in an arrogant fashion, "It has been some time." He remarked, as his eyes admired the vision before him; her body shape complimented with the knitted sweater style dress. "Anyone would understand if I've had the impression that maybe you didn't want me as much as you did before."_

_His sexual confrontational nature unnerved Emily in only the way her husband possibly could but she feigned confidence and strutted toward him, "I know what your game is, Daniel. I'm not a fool."_

_A smirk appeared on his lips, "Then you'll know what comes next…"_

**(PRESENT)**

Skin on skin, their bodies lay close to one another and their legs were entangled underneath the sheets.

"We're inevitable," Daniel commented. "From the moment we met," he let Emily's fingers 'draw' various patters on his chest as he buried his face in her blonde mess, "With you, I became a different man, a new person. I didn't lower my voice when I introduced myself as Daniel Grayson anymore because you made me proud to be me, proud to be different from the kind of path my parents had chosen for me."

"You returned the favour even if you didn't know it," she assured him. "I haven't been Amanda Clarke for 19 years, Daniel. I haven't been the lonely child since the day I married you. I don't intend to be ever again."


	22. Harmony

"_Peace is more than the absence of war, peace is accord; harmony_." – **Laini Taylor**

* * *

Memories were fuzzed, but it didn't take much for Sophia to realise where she was. "Hey there," her father smiled.

Beside him, Charlotte curled into the chair and had fallen asleep but her father's hand clutched hers and Sophia forced herself to smile back at him. The pain crept into her body and she moaned somewhat, "Hi."

The noise woke Charlotte and she looked relieved, "Hey, you're awake."

Movement in the doorway attracted the attention of both Charlotte and Sophia, only to find their mother appear and lean her head on the frame of the door with an oddly happy smile on her face despite the previous tense conversations with both of her children. "Hi," she held a coffee in her hands.

"Mom…" Charlotte shuffled in discomfort.

"How're you, baby?" Emily checked, her eyes stuck on Sophia.

"Well, I'm awake so I assume I'll be okay," Sophia blandly replied, rather unnerved by her mother's presence.

"Look," Daniel studied Charlotte's unhappy expression. "I'm not about to have a blowout with the two of you, all you need to know is your mother's here to stay and that's the way it'll be from now on, okay?"

Charlotte's eyes widened, "What?"

In the midst of it, Sophia's brow creased, "Shouldn't you be happy? You were the one who defended her from the start."

Her sister delved into silence and Emily wandered into the room, "Your father and I accept that there's plenty more for the 4 of us to discuss and we will." She aimed her promise at Charlotte for effect, "Most important, at the moment, is your recovery and when you're home, I'll answer all the questions you want. We'll talk about my parents, your fathers' parents, whatever answers you need, you'll have them, okay?" Emily leaned at the edge of the bed, "Time can only heal the wounds but both of you need to promise to try for me and for yourselves."

"Well… we only ever have one mother in our lives," Charlotte acknowledged, with reluctance.

"What if your explanation doesn't satisfy us?" Sophia questioned, already back on form, despite her recent condition. "I mean, I heard pretty much all of what you had to say before. Is there more? Or are you about to say more of the same and just hope that if you keep repeating it, we'll just forgive you because we're tired of hearing it?"

"There's much more," Daniel answered. "About David Clarke, my mother and your aunt Charlotte for the two of you to know about. More about your mother's life in foster care and our lives before you."

"I'm ready for it," Sophia confirmed.

"We're not," her father quipped. "It's not up for discussion, not until you're safe and well and back at home."

"What about Jacob and Hannah?" Charlotte asked, "Do you plan to tell them?"

Daniel looked toward Emily and she inhaled before she spoke, "Not yet. If the two of you have found it difficult to accept, they'll find it impossible and I don't want to confuse them. In a couple years, they'll be able to understand the concept of what it means and how it could impact them." Her eyes stuck on Sophia, "And you and I will have to have a discussion; Jack and Amanda may decide Chris should be kept in the dark and you need to promise your silence."

At her mother's words, Sophia's eyes flared, "What? Mom, they can't keep the truth from him."

"They're his parents, Sophia. They make the decisions for him, not you." The strict order in her mother's tone could be heard loud and clear and Sophia relented. "Promise me, you won't tell him?"

"I'm not the only one you should be concerned about," Sophia warned. Her words caused a frown to be shared between Daniel and Emily and she studied the look of confusion they expressed. "There's no promise that the man who told me won't tell Chris the truth. Wouldn't Chris rather hear it from the people that love him?"

"Who did tell you?" Daniel checked.

She shook her head, "He didn't say a name; he didn't say much." The memory appeared very faint, as if it had been some kind of dream. "He approached me at the cemetery where aunt Charlotte's buried. He said he had been a friend of my Grandmother's and knew all about my mothers' secrets." Sophia noticed her parents look for more details, "He must have been about 70 or maybe even 80 years old and he had jet black hair and a foreign accent. He was Oriental; I can't be certain if he's Japanese or Chinese."

Daniel appeared shocked, "Takeda?"

His wife nodded her head in confirmation, "Who else?"

"Do you know him?" Charlotte butted in, as her parents digested the information for themselves.

"Once upon a time before…" Emily's voice trailed off into the distance and she frowned. "Daniel," she motioned toward the door and they excused themselves from the hospital room. "He did it. He's behind it all."

"Whoa, hold on. Slow down," Daniel's hand grasped her arm, "Behind, what?"

"When I decided to marry you, Takeda didn't approve. He never approved of you. He always said you were a distraction. I had your father arrested and decided to settle down with you but Takeda hated that," Emily vividly recalled the disdain Takeda had shown. "He believed I should have carried on and taken down the Initiative –"

"And he told Sophia as punishment," Daniel concluded. "You don't –" he appeared horrified, "You don't think Takeda was involved in Sophia's hit-and-run, do you?"

Husband and wife contemplated the idea between themselves and Emily looked uncertain. "I can't be certain, not without any proof. It wouldn't make any sense for him to have been involved. If he told Sophia, it wouldn't have just been to punish me for my decision, he must have had another goal. If she died…" she exhaled. So many years had passed, she didn't have the frame of mind to think like a 'Revenger' as Nolan called them. "I don't know why he would do that."

Daniel's hand rested on her arm, "It's not important. Sophia is," he pointed out. "She's okay and the doctor's say she can be released in the next few days. We'll hire security and have the house watched, we'll have the children watched and if Takeda comes back, we'll deal with him, but promise me you won't hunt him down."

She looked uncomfortable, "I promise I won't."

As they embraced, Charlotte appeared from the hospital room. "She's tired."

"Well, maybe we should head home." Daniel decided, "We can collect your brother and sister from Nolan's; it feels like we haven't seen them in years."

"Would you mind terribly if I stayed here?" Emily requested, "I just think Sophia and I need to talk." Her husband nodded and kissed her cheek, "I'll see you at home later on, okay?" She moved forward and wrapped her arms around Charlotte, which was returned to Emily's relief. Once her husband and eldest stepped onto the elevator and the doors closed, Emily returned to Sophia's hospital room and closed the door shut. She smiled, "Charley's on the way home with your dad so I decided to stick around for a couple more hours, hope you don't mind?"

"I don't have much choice," she muttered.

"Did the man say much else to you?" Her mother asked, "Before he told you."

"He was your sensei," Sophia repeated Takeda's words. "He knew Victoria, and he spoke lots of about destiny's that need to be fulfilled and how he finally understood his own. He didn't make a lot of sense but I didn't care because what he told me was on paper and that made plenty of sense."

"I'm sorry you had to find out like that," her mother replied.

"Well, if he hadn't have told me, you never would have done." Sophia retorted, almost with bitterness behind the remark.

Emily nodded her head, in confession mode. "I won't lie to you, Sophia; I wouldn't have told you because I would constantly be too scared to lose you. I've had my family ripped away from me before, Soph, and I didn't know if I could withstand the pain of that the second time around. To lose my children would be so much more painful than to lose my father and that had been almost unbearable for me to live with."

In the moment, Sophia realised she had barely scraped the surface of the kind of heartache her mother had faced at a much younger age than she was. "I shouldn't have judged you. I haven't been in your shoes so I'm sorry for that."

An affectionate smile crossed Emily's lips and she kissed Sophia's forehead, "See, we're already on our way back."


	23. The Loyalty of a Soldier

"_Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved_." - **Martin Luther**

* * *

Six weeks on, and Sophia returned home from the hospital and the Grayson's returned to normal-ish.

"And he won't be able to reschedule?" The disappointment shone in Emily's voice as she spoke to Daniel's loyal assistant at Grayson Global, "Well, thank you for the call, Sandra."

On crutches, Sophia hopped into the kitchen, "Where's dad?"

Her mother shoved her cell into her pocket, "There's some crisis at Global and your father won't be home for a few hours, which means dinner is just the two of us." The school term had restarted and Charlotte had returned to college, while her brother and sister were away from home on a weekend camp. "Is that okay?"

Sophia didn't bother to hide her lack of enthusiasm. "I don't really have much choice."

Life since the revelation of Emily's identity had the Grayson's make attempt after attempt to return to _normal_ – or as normal as the Grayson's could ever be – but Emily's relationship with her eldest children had suffered. As she dished out the meal onto two separate plates, Sophia took her normal place at the table and they spent the first few minutes in an awkward silence before Emily spoke out. "I've always been afraid to love you, Sophia." She noticed Sophia almost choke on her steak, confused as to the hidden definition behind her remark.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because you're so much like Victoria. In terms of appearance," Emily confessed, with a smirk. "And will." The humour from the moment soon slipped from them and Emily leaned forward, "I didn't know if I would even _like_ you."

Sophia raised her eyebrows, "Gee, thanks, mom."

The moment became even tenser and Emily set down her knife and fork, "Soph, I'm sorry but you seem to want honesty from me and here I am, honest. It didn't occur to me that any of our children would be reminders of your father's parents but you always have been, from the moment I first held you. I loved you instantly but I knew there would always be a piece of her inside you and that piece of you intimidates me. Always has."

Disbelief crossed Sophia's expression, "I've intimidated you? What…" she frowned, "You haven't made any sense."

"Soph, I –" The sound of the doorbell intercepted Emily's explanation and she huffed, in frustration.

Her hand pulled the door open and Takeda stood there, weary and frail. "How are you, Amanda?" His polite and composed nature defused the shock Emily's heart had been struck with by his sudden presence. "May I come in?" An inability to control herself, or her emotions, overwhelmed Emily and she allowed him entrance.

Confidence oozed from the elderly man, who had withered somewhat, and Emily followed him further inside the house. "How dare you come here to my home? There's been more than our fair share of chaos because of you." A fury started to burn her chest, "Why are you here?"

The confrontation attracted Sophia's attention and her eyes set on Takeda, "You…"

"Weren't you ever curious as to why I decided to expose you to your family?" His bland voice questioned, "Didn't you ever wonder what my future aim was? Or have you dismissed the life lessons I instructed you with?"

"How many times do you need to hear it? I'm not interested anymore," Emily snapped.

Takeda's eyes remained as dark as they ever were. "There's purpose to every action made. When you didn't retaliate for my disloyalty towards you, we decided to take matters into our own hands and force the confrontation."

Emily's eyes narrowed, "We?"

Stiletto heels clicked on the marble floor of the foyer and there, she appeared. Those same devious brown eyes that spoke volumes as to how easily she could manipulate you, her once natural raven hair colour had since faded from her locks and her skin had wrinkled somewhat. "We," she clarified, her voice still dominated the room like a leader's did.

Sophia's body clammed, "Oh… my…"

The elderly woman let her eyes fall over the lookalike and softly smiled yet Sophia didn't feel the affectionate warmth that she assumed most people felt when their grandmother's smiled at them. "Why the sudden speechlessness? I've never known you be lost for words before, Amanda." Victoria's eyes bore holes in Emily's skin and she felt repulsed as her eyes flickered between her mother-in-law and her former sensei. "I suppose you do credit an explanation as to why and how I'm here and I'm sure Mr Takeda will be more than happy to explain."

Her sensei remained silent, his head bowed, and Sophia started to fume. "Someone had better explain?"

Momentarily paused in awe of Sophia, the woman stared Emily down. The malicious side of her hoped Emily felt as scared, as she had done in her "final" months, to lose her family the way Emily had torn Victoria's down. "Amanda, I'm here because your _sensei_ had the sense to warn me prior to take-off of the fate that awaited me. If it weren't for him, I would never have been able to experience being a grandparent," she remarked, with another smile toward Sophia.

"Why would you do this?" Emily demanded, her eyes focused on Takeda.

"I'm sorry to be the one to inform you, Amanda, but Mr Takeda and I were acquaintances years before he made himself known to you." Her mother-in-law stepped forward, her eyes held the pretence of innocence. "In fact, Mr Takeda had been the one to falsify every shred of evidence that sent your father to prison." One look at her sensei told Emily that Victoria spoke the truth, his head remained bowed and his eyes refused to face hers. "The Initiative cut him off immediately after to avert suspicion and guilt, or perhaps bitterness, caused him to seek you out and _train_ you in the hopes of destroying the Grayson empire and AI. He's made a fool of you, Amanda. All these years, he's bullied you into thinking Conrad and I were the monsters and perhaps we were," Victoria confessed, remorse in her tone of voice. Her eyes fell upon Takeda, "But we would never have been able to frame your father without his evidence."

The childhood scars of betrayal reappeared from Emily and she forced herself not to break her composure, at least, not in front of Sophia. "You helped them betray my father and you never told me."

"Of all the decisions I have made, that one has my deepest regret. My every action afterwards was an attempt to rectify the wrong I had done to your father and you." Takeda finally met her eyes, stood side by side with Victoria. "I did all I could to help you and if you had continued with your mission, you would have discovered my involvement for yourself."

As always, Takeda made excuses and pushed the blame away from him. Her eyes were dead, "Leave."

Sophia watched the tense interaction between her mother and her mentor and looked on in surprise as the elderly man bowed his head and left the house, as quickly as he had entered. Herself, Emily and Victoria remained in an eye-lock for several moments before Sophia clutched the arms of her crutches and stood, "Mom…" Even when she had confronted her mother with the truth, Emily didn't look as crushed as she did by Takeda's betrayal.

Emily didn't respond to Sophia's call. Instead her eyes were latched on suspiciously to Victoria, who clasped her hands in front of her waist, "I'm sure you would like to know where I've been, _how_ I've been…"

"There are several questions I have for you," Emily nodded her head, in confirmation. She exhaled, "But Daniel deserves to be here to hear your explanation more than I do so, why don't I call him?"

Once her mother stepped out of the room, Sophia stared in Victoria's direction and recalled every story she had ever heard of the woman from her father but found every virtue trumped by her mother's recollection of the Grayson's scheme to frame David Clarke for Conrad's crime. "Well, you don't look too bad for a dead woman…"

A hearty cackle escaped Victoria's throat, "And you must be Sophia."

"I don't exactly know who you are but I know the stories I've heard. I also know those stories don't even scratch the surface as to the amount of destruction you can inflict on others," Sophia bitterly remarked.

"I assure you, I'm merely here to –" Victoria attempted to explain.

"Return the favour to my mom? She tore your family away from you, is it your turn now?" Sophia predicted.

"I know you may have no reason to trust me but my family are very important to me and my family includes Daniel, your brother and sisters, you and even your mother," Victoria snaked closer to Sophia. "I have fantasised the moment I would finally meet you, Sophia, and be reconnected with my son. Doesn't that warrant a hug?" She shrugged her shoulders, her eyes widened with innocence and Sophia diverted from her gaze until she relented and filled the empty space between Victoria's arms. From the doorway, Emily watched the family moment with narrowed eyes; if Takeda had saved Victoria from the plane explosion, where had she been since and why had she chosen _now_ to come back?


	24. Hands

**A/N****:** I've said before I'm not one to write author's notes, but this is one of those occasions when I will. I've been debating bringing Victoria back into the story since chapter one and she's been mentioned various times throughout but I finally decided to do it and those of you who know of my love for Victoria - if you didn't, you do now ;) - will know how difficult it was not to write her back into this story sooner than I have.

Thank you, as always, for the wonderful reviews I've received from the start! I know I'm not a fan of A/N's so I don't write them much and I do feel bad that I don't express my gratitude to everyone who reads, reviews, follows and puts the story in their favourite's. It really does put a smile on my face!

* * *

"_Behold the hands, how they promise, conjure, appeal, menace, pray, supplicate, refuse, beckon, interrogate, admire, confess, cringe, instruct, command, mock and what not besides, with a variation and multiplication of variation which makes the tongue envious_." – **Michel de Montaigne **

* * *

Of all the years Daniel had known Emily, or Amanda… she had never been one to panic. It didn't matter if Daniel didn't even know her real name for twenty years, he did know that his wife did not panic. **Period**.

Yet, her ever-so-brief phone call had left Daniel breathless – not in anticipation, but with fear – and he found himself in acceleration way over the speed allowance on his way home but terrified at the situation which awaited him. Had Sophia been hurt? Perhaps someone had called with news of Charlotte or Jacob and Hannah…

Endless scenarios drifted in and out of Daniel's mind but he pushed them aside in a desperate hope. Finally, he reached Grayson Manor and didn't even bother to lock the car or take his briefcase in.

"Emily?" He bellowed her name, in desperation.

"We're here." Her answer to his call came from the den, where a soft lamp flickered.

"Hey, Soph." Daniel entered the den, only to find his second eldest sat on the sofa but it was the female sat opposite Sophia with her back to him that struck Daniel. She had the same posture. She had the same appearance. His lips moved to open but the words didn't come, they refused to leave his mouth without confirmation. Slowly, but surely, the female stood and faced him. It was all the confirmation he needed. "M-Mom…"

Graceful as always, Victoria opened her arms and pulled herself close to him. "Hello, Daniel."

His body stiffened underneath her embrace, too shell-shocked by the emotions that he had lost all control. Immediately, he looked towards his wife for an explanation, some confirmation that she was real. "I'm sorry if I worried you, Daniel. I just didn't know how to tell you…" Emily's voice trailed with a meek response. Mother and son were only able to stare at one another in wait for the other's reaction and Emily tapped Sophia's shoulder to move her from the sofa. "Sophia, why don't we let them have some space?"

Reluctantly, Sophia hobbled out of earshot with her mother and Daniel studied the affectionate way Victoria's eyes had brightened when she watched Sophia. His mother smiled at him, "She's beautiful, Daniel."

He nodded, "She takes after you."

A noble smile flickered across his mother's face and she stepped backwards from him, careful not to overwhelm. "I'm sure you must be confused as to how I'm here and why I didn't present myself to you before." Her son remained expressionless as he could in an attempt to make her explanation more difficult. "Daniel, I'm so sorry I didn't attend Charlotte's funeral."

"Well, you weren't really there for the important moments when was alive either so, what the hell?" Daniel snapped.

"Don't be cruel," she scowled, injured by the brutal remark with far too much truth to it. "If I had known how vulnerable your sister was, I would never have even considered leaving to testify in court. When I escaped the plane explosion, I had insisted that Charlotte be notified but news of my _death_ had already spread and she had already…" It didn't matter how many years had passed on, Victoria would never forgive herself for Charlotte's overdose.

"How did you escape that plane explosion, mom?" Daniel demanded, "Did dad warn you?"

"He did before I left," Victoria nodded her head, in confirmation. "But I had been too bull-headed to listen. I had boarded the plane when I received a call seconds before take-off… from Satoshi Takeda."

Daniel's eyes widened, "Takeda?"

"He somehow had prior knowledge of the plane's fate and had me escorted from it. Daniel, I know who Emily is and what you don't understand is why Takeda decided to train her to come back and seek revenge." She attempted to rest her hand on his arm but Daniel yanked himself from her touch. "He falsified the evidence, Daniel. If it weren't for him, your father and I would never have been able to clear him from the incident and blame David Clarke. For some reason, he turned on AI and your father and I and decided to use Amanda to make us pay for it." She brushed her near-waist-length locks from her face and her eyes pleaded with Daniel, "I've been hidden away for years, Daniel, not because I'm afraid to suffer the consequences for the crimes I've committed but because I've been too ashamed. The ways I've failed you and Charlotte..."

"Why have you come back now?" Daniel balanced his weight delicately between his feet, filled with too many unanswered questions but too furious to really heed his mother's words.

"Because –" she opened her mouth.

"Were you the one who made sure Sophia found out the truth?" Daniel snapped in demand.

"I needed to make myself known to you, Daniel, and I could never have done that unless you and your children really knew who Emily was. I didn't do any of it to hurt you, or even to hurt Emily, I did it because I love you." The protest in her voice appeared to come from such a good-hearted nature but Daniel knew his mother better than that.

"You nearly destroyed my family and I'm not a fool, mom. You did it because you hate Emily, you always have done. Your suspicions were confirmed when you discovered she was Amanda," Daniel voiced with bitterness behind him. "From day one of our relationship, you knew there was something not quite right about her and now that you've been proved right, you waited for the ultimate moment to pounce and make her pay for the way she destroyed our family but the fact is, mom, you're the one who destroyed us. You and dad did, with your constant lies, schemes and manipulation. The two of you made me ashamed to call myself a Grayson but Emily or Amanda, whatever her name is, has made me proud."

"And I would expect no more from someone David raised," she concluded.

His eyes searched hers for more; that extra, hidden bitterness behind her tone. It didn't appear to him. "She's helped me rebuild the Grayson name and she loved me, despite the family I came from, not because of it."

She reluctantly nodded, "I misinterpreted her intentions because I simply aimed to protect you, Daniel. She came into your life when you were extremely vulnerable. I would have hated to see anyone take advantage of you because of the mistakes you made beforehand."

The sudden agreeable nature didn't settle in Daniel's stomach, "Why are you really here?"

Resentful of the distrust her son held towards her intentions, Victoria narrowed her eyes. "I've told you, Daniel –"

"I know what you told me but I don't believe you. So until you tell me the truth, Victoria, I don't want you here in my home or anywhere near my children." To hear her son name her by her name felt like a stab to the heart and Victoria had lost her disconnected edge; she couldn't cut herself off from her emotions anymore. It took practice, and she hadn't had reason to practice that in many years. "You don't belong here anymore. Leave." His deadened tone stirred a loneliness inside of Victoria but the knowledge that she deserved no more from Daniel brought her to her feet.

Once her mother-in-law prepared to leave, Emily instantly draped her arms around Daniel's waist. Somewhere, deep and dark inside of her heart, felt relieved that Daniel had chosen her over Victoria. "I'm so sorry, Daniel."

With sadness, Sophia held back as she watched the scene play out; her parents embraced, as Victoria departed. The sweet stories of her father's childhood, once told by Daniel, echoed in Sophia's head and she followed her instincts… and Victoria. "Hold on…" she pleaded, barely able to walk, let alone run, on her crutches.

The older woman reluctantly stopped, "Your father doesn't want me here. Neither do you."

"Is that it?" Sophia sounded disappointed.

"My heart has been broken too many times; one child is dead, and the other looks at me as if he would be better off if I had remained so." Victoria didn't hide the tears in her eyes, "I made a mistake to come back here."

"Well, I'm disappointed in you." Her lips formed a persuasive pout, "After all the stories I've heard, of how people feared Victoria Grayson and your determination; you don't even level on the same scale as the woman I pictured. If my father really means enough to you to make you come back here, why would you give up at the first hurdle?" Despite her rather unkind approach, Victoria sensed a hint of encouragement behind Sophia's voice. The teen shrugged her shoulders and took a few closer steps toward Victoria, "I can't speak for my dad, or even my mom, but I can speak for me and whenever someone asked me who I would have loved to meet most, alive or dead, I would have said you. I've heard from my mom the dreadful decisions you made," she pointed out, much to Victoria's sadness and shame. "And I know the deception you have been capable of but I'm still… drawn to you," Sophia confessed, "If you're really the woman I think you are then you won't leave, you'll stick it out and you'll make my dad accept you, if not forgive you."

Despite her sadness, Victoria experienced a sudden acceptance… and Sophia held out her proverbial hand to hold.


	25. Hatred is a Curved Blade

"_Learn this from me; holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves._" – **Mitch Albom**

* * *

If anyone had forewarned Emily Thorne that if she became involved in Amanda Clarke's scheme, she would remain indebted to the woman, and her children, until the day she died, Emily would have taken her chances on her own.

And when Sophia Grayson appeared on her porch, with the infamous Victoria Grayson, and a request to allow the former Queen to stay in Amanda's home for the foreseeable future, Amanda Porter would have slammed the door in their faces. But the Grayson child showed her Grayson colours with blackmail; while the Grayson children, Daniel, and even Jack, knew the truth of the name switch, Amanda's only son did not.

After years of such a delicate façade, no one particularly unnerved Amanda, except for one woman; the ice queen who declared intimidation open for business, Victoria Grayson. And years on, a married mother of one, the Grayson matriarch continued to strike fear in Amanda's heart.

"I must say how much you seem to have mellowed," Victoria remarked.

"If only I could say the same for you," Amanda barely paid any attention to the elderly woman, as she read the paper.

"I know motherhood could only be responsible for such a transformation." Her wrinkled hands stroked the wooden frame to the family portrait of Jack, Amanda and their son. "Where did you say your family were?"

"I didn't," Amanda replied, as she snatched the picture from Victoria's reach. Lucky for them, Sophia had decided to break her relationship off with Chris – unable to face Amanda's son with her discovered truth – and Jack had decided to treat their son to a weekend away with Declan, which left the house empty but for Amanda. "All you need to know is we have the house to ourselves for the next couple of days," she concluded, as she replaced the picture.

The older woman rolled her eyes; she had never trusted _Amanda_ and her instincts had been correct. She could only be thankful that the woman hadn't hooked her claws into Charlotte after the truth of her paternity had been revealed. "I see."

While Amanda felt curious for an explanation as to Victoria's survival, she couldn't face a confrontation with the woman and strolled out onto the porch with her coffee. Instinct forced Victoria to follow her out and Amanda scowled, "You can't be out here for them to see you," she scolded.

Victoria's eyes fell to Grayson Manor with a deadened expression before she sat on to the porch swing-seat. She could spy the balcony near the master bedroom and exhaled; all she had needed back then was to be in David's all home and now all she needed was to be back home. Why was the grass always greener in someone else's garden? "They won't notice me," she dismissed Amanda's concern. Deep down, Victoria prayed they would, if only to end her time in yet another hide-out and have Daniel welcome her back to the family fold with an embrace of acceptance. "I suppose you must wonder how I survived the plane explosion, how I came to be here," Victoria checked, as Amanda studied her expression.

"I'm curious," Amanda admitted. "But I've been in the dark before."

"It must have been difficult for you," Victoria commented, as Amanda scooted to the empty space beside her and they admired the sunrise on the horizon. "To have kept such a truth from the man you love and your own son."

Disbelief filled Amanda's eyes as Victoria showed a hint of kindness and she nodded, "Yeah."

"To live in her shadow for so many years with the knowledge of just how much your husband loved her instead of you," Victoria added, and every piece of kindness slipped away with the sour statement. "You may have fooled my family and I before but the only person you really hurt was yourself because you have to live with the fact that your husband always has been and always will be in love with another woman, _Amanda_."

Her name came bitter and cruel on Victoria's tongue and Amanda's eyes watered in sadness, as she knew the woman had spoken the truth. Suddenly, the cheerful sound of youth interrupted them, "Hey," Sophia hobbled in their direction.

With her morals in tatters, Amanda simply disappeared inside and Sophia scowled, in confusion. "She's tired." Victoria attempted to explain, "She probably didn't sleep well with me here, after the way I treated her before, I can't say I blame her for her distrust." Victoria patted the pre-warmed space beside her where Amanda had been and beckoned for Sophia to sit. "I didn't expect to see you so soon."

Sophia deviously smirked, "I snuck out before anyone woke."

Her grandmother reflected the smile and brushed Sophia's curls from her face, "And you haven't spoken to your father?"

"You said yourself he needs time to adjust, so I decided not to mention it." Sophia recalled the decision to hide Victoria with her mother's former conspirator; they had appeared on the woman's doorstep in darkness and Sophia had stooped to blackmail when Amanda dared to question her judgement.

"Have you told your mother?" Victoria asked.

Much to her relief, Sophia shook her head. "She's on an honesty roll since everyone found out, she'd only tell him…"

Inwardly, Victoria scoffed; the real Amanda Clarke was just as ill-minded as the counterfeit, they didn't know what it meant to be honest, let alone how to be honest. "Well, I can't say I blame her for that." She instinctively rubbed Sophia's arms from the cold chill in the morning air and rose to her feet, "Why don't you come inside? I'm sure you're exhausted," she motioned to the crutches, which had left sore marks on Sophia's hands from the walk down.

From a short distance away, Emily spied the two heads of black hair and her eyebrow rose. Since Victoria's return, Sophia had been secretive and on-edge but Daniel had interpreted it as the after-effects of her break-up from the Porter's son.

Powerless to Sophia's sudden deception, Emily showered and dressed before she set off to find Daniel, who was already in the office and looked as if he had been for hours. "…And there's no record of her or anyone to match her description?" Her husband impatiently asked on the phone to his PI hired on retainer for casual work. "She wouldn't book in under the name of Grayson… you can check Harper or maybe Clarke," he offered.

"Try Porter?" Emily added.

"Porter –" her husband carelessly repeated, much too exhausted to even consider the name.

"She's not booked in at any hotel, Daniel. She's much closer to home." At her explanation, he abruptly ended the call. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer must be your mother's motto because she's just next door with Amanda. I don't know why we didn't suspect it," Emily shamefully shook her head.

"Why would Amanda take her in?" Daniel frowned.

"Because Sophia convinced her to do it," Emily ran her hand over her damp strands of blonde.

"Wonderful…" Daniel rounded his desk and leaned back on it, "You mean, my mother hasn't been back in our lives for 48 hours and already she's turned Sophia on us?" He looked more worried than usual; this wasn't just a Global business deal.

"As much as I dislike your mom, Daniel," Emily draped her arms around his neck. "Her intentions toward you and your children aren't malicious at all, they never have been. I don't think there's much reason for concern; Sophia will come to us when she and Victoria are ready to make their case. We know, for certain, that Sophia's never been afraid of a confrontation," she chuckled, as she recalled Sophia's moment of truth with the news Takeda had loaded her with. "And remember your mother's older now, Daniel. She's spent years alone and loneliness isn't easy to deal with, especially when you're in your later years. She doesn't have much more to lose so she came home to fight for you," Emily pointed out.

"Isn't that when they say people are most vicious?" Daniel muttered.

Her hand lifted his cheek to force his eyes to look into hers, "Hey, Daniel, don't hate your mother out of loyalty to me. I've proven that I'm more than capable to take care of myself." Her old skills kicked in, and Emily refused to show just how much of a threat Victoria appeared. Emily had never underestimated the Grayson matriarch and she knew that, if Victoria felt the inclination, she could probably tear the family apart. "The past needs to stay firmly where it is; in the past, that way it can't hurt anyone anymore and we can all move on."

Daniel frowned, "I'll never move on from the pain she caused you."

Emily's heart dropped, "Daniel, I refuse to become your excuse. If you don't want to accept your mother back into our lives then do it on your own terms, not because of me. I told you once, the only way to take the control away from your mother is to forgive her and that rule still applies."

He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed it, "I'm just so scared for us, we're already so troubled and she's the root cause of it all, Em. If she hadn't told Sophia the truth –"

"Then I wouldn't have felt the relief in honesty that I feel," Emily completed his sentence. "Maybe I should be the one to welcome her back," she offered. After all, they were probably the ones with the most unfinished business. "Victoria knows who I am and has done for some time so maybe it's time she and I had the well-anticipated discussion about my father. If she and I can settle the past, then there's no more she can do to hurt us, is there?"

"You would do that?" Daniel appeared surprised. "For me?"

"Daniel, I would do that for you, for our family…" she seemed weary, "Mostly, for me because, Daniel, I need to do this."

From the moment her father had been arrested to her release from the juvenile detention centre, the innocence and naiveté of Amanda Clarke had never lost hope that if someone could just "find the lady with the dark hair" who had been there when her father had been taken, then she would save them from their fate of permanent separation. And when she had discovered that it had been that lady responsible for their isolation, the hatred Emily had suffered had spawned a lifetime of deception, which had only come back on her tenfold.

If Emily really hoped for her family to recover from that deception, she needed to remove the bitter piece of Amanda Clarke that had left her heart shredded… a second time, she needed Victoria.


	26. The End of a War

"_War does not determine who is right but who is left_." – **George Bernard Shaw**

* * *

Her parents under the impression that she had chosen to mix with friends, Sophia comfortably spent the day with her newfound relative and her fondness for Victoria only increased the more time they shared.

"…and Daniel loved the summer's we spent here," Victoria dreamily recalled.

Her chance to reminisce became broken by the harsh knock on the door and Amanda leapt from the stool in the kitchen to find Emily's face in the windowed-door which caused her heart to freeze. The downside to her home – people could see you from the outside and Emily's eyes were already latched onto Victoria and Sophia. "I'm so sorry –"

The blonde raised her hand in a Goddess action and silenced Amanda. "Save your explanation." Emily eyed the raven-haired teen with a stern expression, "Sophia, I would like to speak with Victoria." She reached in her pocket for her keys and handed them to Amanda, "My car's parked outside, Amanda can take you home." The no-nonsense tone of her voice sent Sophia to her feet and she shot Victoria a weak expression before she followed Amanda out onto the porch.

"If you're here to ask me to keep my distance from Sophia, you'll waste your breath." The older woman rose to her feet and her body attempted to compete with Emily's lanky form. "I prepared to leave but Sophia asked me to stay here instead."

No catty comeback, Emily simply admired her childhood home. "Ironic, isn't it?" She couldn't hide the smile from her face as her eyes fell to the kitchenette, "Here," she pointed to her position. "I became infatuated by the lady with the dark hair and here I am, decades later on, _still_ infatuated by you." She tilted her head, almost in awe of the woman, that had nearly been destined to become her step-mother and Emily had often found herself in a dreamland; what kind of a family could they have been? Would there really have been the happily-ever-after children had been raised with in bedtime stories? Or had Amanda Clarke been destined to become Cinderella, lost in a world without her father and ruled by the iron fist of her wicked step-mother? Life always seemed to pattern the fairy-tales that had been recited to them as children.

Rather taken aback by the compliments, Victoria's eyes scoured Emily's for an ulterior motive but none appeared. She didn't see the manipulative Emily Thorne in those icy blue eyes anymore, she saw her father's eyes. "Infatuated by me?"

Emily nodded her head, confidence in her every move, despite how childish she felt in the woman's presence. "Whenever he mentioned you in the journals, my father's love for you was clear to see and I… didn't understand," she confessed. "No matter how deep I searched, I couldn't seem to see the virtues my father had seen in you. Maybe because he had a naïve faith in your humanity or maybe because he had more compassion than I'm capable of, I'll never be certain." Her hand sketched over the mantelpiece, "Neither can I be certain of the way I feel about you."

Her mother-in-law's eyebrow rose, "You could have fooled me."

In admiration of her wit, Emily smirked but shook her head, "My father loved you, Daniel loves you, despite his reaction to your return, Charlotte loved you and I can see Sophia's taken with you," she commented. "So many people I have adored, the people whose judgement I would trust with my life can't all be blinded by your power or charm, so perhaps I'm the one who's been blinded by my own bitterness."

"You had reason for that bitterness," Victoria confessed, careful not to open herself too much… not yet, not until she could fully comprehend Emily's intentions behind the conversation, which seemed almost heartfelt.

"I don't know how much you know about me and my life –" Emily pointed out.

"Takeda filled me in with an in-depth explanation of your scheme," she answered. "He told me about your time held in Allenwood and your relationship with Nolan Ross, your visit to Grayson Manor on New Years' of 2003…" her voice trailed off, in hope of an explanation. She knew of every take down; some had even impressed Victoria.

One came from Emily as she sat on the sofa, "I didn't fully believe my father's journals. After I read Treadwell's book on my father's arrest and his supposed crimes, the way he broke my trust… Mason led me to believe my father had been the monster everyone claimed, he led me to hate my father until his death." She looked fearlessly at Victoria, "When Nolan provided me with the journals, I delayed the opportunity to read them but, by the Christmas season, my memories were so powerful that they led me back here and I read them. His honesty and the fear behind his desperation for the truth to come out pressed me to consider the possibility that he had been innocent. I needed evidence, or a confession, and I don't know if I hoped I would find those from you but I received the latter and promises of the former from a man named –"

Victoria cut her sentence, "Roger Halstead."

"When Conrad had him murdered, I knew my father's journals spoke the truth. In the unfairness of it all, some would say I had a moment of madness and I vowed to make everyone pay for the deception," Emily recalled.

"Well, you certainly achieved your aim," Victoria almost celebrated her payback.

"I've spent years in debate," she confessed, "A debate as to whether the outcome had been worth the chaos I inflicted on the lives of innocent people; Jack, Daniel, my children… Charlotte." The older woman's head snapped in Emily's direction at the mention of the deceased's name, "I'm sorry to you, Victoria." A heaviness pressed on Emily's heart and threatened suffocation; it had done since Charlotte's overdose. "I'm sorry for your loss. If I had known…" What could she possibly say? If she had known… what? She _had_ known and she had capitalised on Charlotte's paternity revelation, her insecurities that concerned Victoria's affection, or lack of it, and she had helped to shatter Charlotte's heart.

A disconnection came from Victoria and she brushed away any resemblance of tears, "Your recollections and your attempt at an explanation is far too little and much too late where it concerns Charlotte." She appeared forceful, almost back on top form, "Why are you really here to see me, Amanda? Is this heart-to-heart simply because I threaten you?"

Annoyance momentarily coloured Emily's expression, "I'm not here because you're a threat, Victoria. If I really wanted you out of our lives, I have the influence over Daniel to never accept you, despite your attempt to split the family apart." This much, Victoria knew to be truth; Emily had won Daniel for 20 years, Victoria had only disappointed and deceived him. "I love Daniel too much to make that happen because, as much as I may hate the idea, he needs you. Our children deserve the influence of a grandparent and you're really the only available one left," she pointed out.

"Such charm," Victoria sadistically snarled in return.

"Well, you know, Victoria, I'm really not the one to blame here, at least not for that," Emily lost control and lashed out. At her verbal attack, the Grayson matriarch flinched and Emily rubbed her forehead and exhaled; she may never learn to like this woman. "We share so many people close to our heart, Victoria; Daniel, Sophia, Charlotte and my father once upon a time because I really do believe you loved him." She had come to terms with the fact that Victoria loved David and mourned the man, almost as much as Emily mourned him.

"I did love him," the woman confirmed.

"And you love Daniel, his children… Victoria, I mean it," Emily opened her body wide. "No tricks, no façade and no real agenda to hurt you. When I married Daniel, I promised to be a positive influence in his life and when I became a mother to my children, I promised to make selfless choices and here's my selfless choice; will you come home?"

Destabilised by the sudden acceptance, not from her son, but from Amanda, Victoria almost lost her balance and felt relieved that she had decided to sit down. Her head ruled over her heart, "You and I both know it's not that simple."

The blonde mirrored her scepticism, "Maybe not… but there's been a child inside of me and she's ached, for years, to be freed from me. The 9 year old naïve child that once pleaded with Mason Treadwell to find the lady with the dark hair because somehow I had convinced myself that you would swoop in and rescue us." Her confession had an instant effect on Victoria, "Perhaps I had placed you on a pedestal, perhaps I was simply so desperate for an escape but I prayed and hoped for a miracle from you, a miracle that never came." The small piece of Amanda still needed to hurt Victoria for the betrayal and Emily's face had naturally hardened, "So when I read my father's journals and watched Treadwell's tapes to discover my father describe you with such affection in his eyes, it made your betrayal all the more inconceivable to me. At no point did you even attempt to save my father from the fate you knew awaited him," she incredulously whispered. "Why?" Emily had forced her lips into a cruel snarl, "Why did you choose him? Why not someone like Bill Harmon? He loved you and you didn't even try to save him," she barked.

Emily held so much of David in her eyes – so much so that Victoria cursed herself for the lateness of the realisation – and the betrayal in her eyes may as well have been him sat opposite her in the very house they had loved in. The inquisition from Emily became unbearable and the already-melted ice shattered into a million pieces as Victoria broke into tears, "I did try! I did try…" she protested, her head buried in her hands.

In truth, Emily could vividly recall the moment Victoria's name flashed on her father's cell, just moments before his arrest had taken place here. "How hard, Victoria?" Her question only reeled more emotion from the sorrowful woman.

She started to choke on her tears, "I offered evidence to the Senator before the verdict came in. I attempted to warn your father moments before the arrest…" Victoria buried her face into her hands and sobbed. She knew she hadn't made much of an attempt to save David but, what Emily didn't know was, Victoria had been just as much of a child as Amanda had been. Back then, Victoria Grayson appeared to the world just as simplistic and selfish as any rich woman but, underneath the surface of her pretence, the shadows ate Victoria alive and she had been no more capable of selflessness than a child could have been.

"What about me?" Emily added, "Huh, Victoria? How much did you do for me?"

Perplexed by the question, Victoria looked the blonde in the eye. One of her most vivid memories of David's arrest had been the hysteria of Amanda as she had been ripped from her home. If she could have taken David's child into her home, she would have done, but the risk had been too much in terms of media speculation and Conrad wouldn't have allowed it. "I –" She couldn't deny the evidence history had left behind for them to observe, "I never meant for you to be hurt in any of it. As far as we were concerned, the system would work for you."

Emily's voice remained blank, "It didn't."

No words could possibly soothe the devastation Emily had suffered, and Victoria knew it. More tears fell and the flash of compassion her father had provoked within caused Emily to reach for the box of Kleenex and offer them to Victoria. She nodded in acceptance, "Thank you."

"If I had come to you with the truth, would you have helped me?" Emily couldn't help but wonder that much. If history had taken a different course, and Emily had revealed herself to Victoria in 2003, perhaps the outcome may have been different. "If I had asked you for the evidence to clear my father's name of the crime, would you have done so or would you have turned me away?"

"I don't know," Victoria confessed. Back then, her relationship with Conrad had been withered, but her children didn't feel so much resentment towards her and her relationship with Charlotte hadn't passed the point of no return.

"Well, at least you're honest," Emily's forehead flickered.

"Why didn't you?" Victoria brushed the tears from her cheek. If Emily had done, all the pain could have been avoided. Her relationship with Daniel may have even been true and Charlotte may have been with them, with children of her own. As much as Victoria blamed herself, a small piece of her blamed Emily for her actions.

"Because I didn't trust you back then," the blonde simplistically explained with a frown. "And I still don't trust you."

"Then, why are you here?" Victoria's eyes narrowed, her amour back once more.

"I already told you," Emily clambered to her feet. "My husband and my children are of the utmost importance to me and they care for you. For reasons that completely evade me, like my father once had done, they believed in your humanity and –" she exhaled in exasperation, "Perhaps I owe it to you, after Charlotte…" her voice trailed off, as she once more recalled the sin she could never quite allow herself to move past. "Besides, every war needs a conclusion and we're way overdue for ours, Victoria." She held out her hand and offered it to the woman, "Truce?"

After a moment of contemplation, Victoria slipped her hand into Emily's; **the end of a war**.


	27. Six Year Olds and Explanations

"_If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself_." – **Albert Einstein**

* * *

When Charlotte Grayson received word from her mother to come home, her fundamental reaction had been concern. No matter how many secrets her mother had kept, Charlotte knew her mother had never been, and never would be, melodramatic. Privately flown home to New York, Charlotte wondered what situation awaited her immediate attention.

Her suitcase dropped by her side, Charlotte stood momentarily in the front entrance of her home. "Mom…"

"…and Daniel should be home any moment with Jacob and Hannah," her mother's monotone voice sounded from the open kitchen, unable to hear Charlotte's call.

"Mom," Charlotte persisted, as she stepped further inside the house.

Feminine footsteps neared from the den and an elderly woman appeared to Charlotte's vision. Her structural features did seem familiar but she couldn't place a name to the woman's face. Charlotte's confusion by the woman's presence only compounded when the woman didn't seem the least startled by her presence, she even seemed to know who Charlotte was as she smiled toothlessly in Charlotte's direction and approached, "Charlotte."

Bewildered, Charlotte forced a smile and Victoria shook her head in amazement; Daniel's description, and even the pictures she had seen, didn't do justice to just how much Charlotte mirrored her namesake. "Hi," Charlotte murmured.

Before the woman made an introduction, her mother stepped out from the kitchen with Nolan, "Welcome home –"

In the midst of her embrace, Sophia made an awkward approach on her crutches, her eyes not focused on the people in the foyer as she yelled out, "Grams, have you seen my phone?" Her head finally rose to discover her older sister with an expression of confusion and her mother furiously stern. "Oh… oops," she bit her lip in an anxious fashion.

"Grams?" Charlotte repeated, as she eyed Victoria.

"Why don't I help you unpack?" Emily nervously offered, "And then I can explain the reason I called you home."

"We're home," Daniel arrived behind them, with Jacob and Hannah at either side of him.

"Mommy, mommy," Hannah jumped into Emily's embrace and threw her arms around her mother's neck. She clumsily brushed her blonde curls from her face, "Daddy said there's a surprise for me at home! Where is it? Where is it?"

Nolan observed the scene before him; Charlotte's bemusement, Daniel and Emily's concern for her reaction and the mere childish enthusiasm of Jacob and Hannah, both completely oblivious of Victoria's presence. Neither parent knew how to possibly explain the situation to any of the three children, who were in the dark of the circumstances as to Victoria's return. "Patience never did come naturally to the Grayson's, did it?" He snidely remarked, only audible for Victoria, who simply smiled back with that same old smile that sent shivers down Nolan's spine when wore it. One look from Emily told Nolan to kick himself into action and he pulled on Victoria's arm, "Victoria, why don't you and I leave the family be for a moment or two so Daniel and Emily can update them, huh?" Never one to relish Victoria's company alone – especially after the way he had schemed to take the woman down with Emily – Nolan motioned to Sophia, "Sophia, come on…"

Daniel scooped Jacob and Hannah into his arms and carried them into the den, while Emily led Charlotte behind. "Mom, please tell me this is some kind of practical joke?" She pleaded, "I mean, there's no way that could really be –" Charlotte looked toward both of her parents and their silence confirmed her suspicion. "How?"

Not able to fully understand the situation, Jacob frowned, "Who is it, mommy?"

"That lady in the hall," Daniel squeezed both of his children, "Is called Victoria." He sounded uncertain, in an effort to explain; if only someone wrote instructions for how to explain your mother's return from the dead to your children. "Do you remember the stories I told you about my mommy, your Grandmother?" The children faithfully nodded, even if they didn't remember the stories, they weren't about to miss out on an explanation. "And I told you she's in heaven."

"Uh-huh," Hannah murmured.

"Well, she hasn't really been in… in heaven," Daniel stammered, "She's been… somewhere else. She had to leave for a little while because she couldn't stay but now she can, so she decided to come back and see me and you."

"Mom," Charlotte's eyes widened, more confused than before.

While her children attempted to consume the information, Emily pulled Charlotte aside. "I don't exactly know how to explain the entire situation to you but the important fact is that your Grandmother's alive and well and she's back here to stay with us from now on, okay?"

Overwhelmed by the movie-style occurrence, Charlotte let the millions of questions run around her head in a childish manner as she studied the elderly woman from her safe distance. "If she's been alive for all these years, why didn't she ever try and contact dad?" Her mother simply shook her head, almost as lost for answers as she was, and Charlotte's eyes squinted at the foolishness of the situation. She suddenly started to appreciate just how crazed her father's life had been with parents like the infamous Conrad and Victoria Grayson. "What about you? Are you okay with her here?"

Her mother exhaled, "Well, your father didn't want her here to start with." She confessed, "But Sophia decided she liked the idea and –" Emily rolled her eyes, "Well, you know how your sister can be when puts her mind to something."

"Dogs with their bones," Charlotte remarked.

"But don't worry about me, okay?" She requested, her smile evident. "Your Grandmother and I have issues but we'll work past them." Emily didn't doubt that her statement made it sound easier than it would realistically be but she didn't have much choice; she _had_ been the one to authorise Victoria's return to the Grayson clan.

"Hey, Charley," Daniel disrupted the brief heart-to-heart, "Would the three of you like to say 'hi'?"

Charlotte nodded her head, "Sure."

At the beckon of her son, Victoria strutted into the room. "Mom," Daniel patted the space beside him, which she instantly accepted, "I would like you to meet Charlotte, Jacob and Hannah," he motioned to each one.

An uncanny shyness blew over Hannah as she twisted her blonde curls around her hand, "Hello," she muttered.

"It's very nice to meet you," Victoria replied, and her eyes fell to the eldest, "All of you."

Charlotte simply smiled once more, and Sophia chuckled to herself at the speechlessness the whole family endured. "Well, well, well…" Nolan leaned with his back on the wall, "This must be the most demure I've seen the Grayson's. I won't let myself adjust to the abnormality too quickly though," he sarcastically added, "I'm positive you'll all be back on top form in a couple weeks. Until then, Revengers," Nolan cockily saluted to Emily and headed out the house.

**(FLASHBACK)**

_Daniel scrambled to conclude his business at the office as a 6 year old Charlotte and 4 year old Sophia had already started to run riot in the headquarters to Grayson Global._

_"It'll be nice for them to see where you work, Daniel." He started to mimic Emily's plea, "You don't spend much time with them, Daniel. Sometimes, I wonder if you would rather we had a son, Daniel…" He rolled his eyes; bitterness towards his wife wasn't an emotion he experienced often but to have his children at work with him wasn't Emily's most inspired idea._

_"Daddy, I'm bored," Charlotte whined, slumped in the chair across the desk._

_"Just one more minute and I'll be ready to drive you home, okay?" Daniel promised, as he cursed the man or woman who invented the half-term. With Emily away from home on a weekend break, Daniel had been exhausted by his children._

_In oblivion, Daniel didn't notice Sophia sneak his wallet from his jacket and race to take it to Charlotte for approval. He could only feel relief that the mini-diva's had settled down with a distraction until he could complete his work. "Who's that?" All of a sudden, Charlotte's bossy demand for an answer filled her father's head and Daniel found himself faced with a picture of his mother and sister which Charlotte had slammed in front of him._

_For an unknown reason, Daniel and Emily hadn't covered the walls with picture of family members. Instead, artwork and pictures of their children decorated the walls. Perhaps, it was because Emily had no pictures of her parents, so Daniel didn't expose his. Perhaps, it was because his family had disappointed him so much that he didn't feel comfortable with it. He shoved the paperwork aside, "Well… I haven't told either of you before," he admitted, as Charlotte and Sophia placed themselves closer to him. "But, before you were born, I had a baby sister just like you."_

_"Where is she?" Charlotte asked._

_Daniel lifted Sophia onto his knees and pulled Charlotte to him, "She died. She went to heaven." Daniel had never been a man of faith but that seemed to be the best explanation to provide such young children._

_As Sophia pouted and studied the picture, Charlotte frowned, "What was her name?"_

_"Her name was Charlotte and you were named after her because we miss her very much," Daniel tried to explain._

_"Who's that?" Sophia pouted and pointed to Victoria._

_"The lady beside Charlotte was my mother and she's also in heaven." Daniel matter-of-factly replied, "One day, when you're both older and you're able to understand, I'll explain what happened to them," he promised. "Until then, I just need you to know that if they were here, they would love you both very much."_

**(PRESENT)**

As the front door slammed from Nolan's departure, the 3 Grayson children reeled with the recent revelation.

"If you'll excuse me, I think I'll unpack my stuff," Charlotte pulled herself from her mother's arms, desperate to be alone, where she could try and decipher the latest Rubik's cube her family had pulled out of nowhere.

"Make sure you're down for dinner at 6pm," her father warned. His eyes held an authoritative look about them; he seemed aware of her confusion but Charlotte knew her father wouldn't allow her to run away from another secret that had made its way out of the Grayson family woodwork.

"Daniel, would you mind terribly if we postponed dinner for an hour or so?" Victoria interrupted, her eyes hopeful, almost too innocent for Emily's inner-worrier to settle. "There's just one errand I need to run."


	28. Fall From Grace

"_The fall from grace is steep and swift, and when you land, it does not make a sound because you are alone_." – **Cari Williams**

* * *

Led to the visitors' room, Conrad Grayson stared ahead at the dull, cement wall. He contemplated any action that could have possibly warranted him visitation with anyone from the outside world.

"Mrs Grayson here to see you," the prison warden answered the unspoken question.

A small smirk settled firmly on Conrad's thin lips. As suspected, the letters sent to Charlotte and Sophia must have provoked suspicion within the Grayson children and dear Amanda had come to confront him for his cruel act. He even started to chuckle to himself when the door opened, starved with anticipation to face her wrath as her world had been as shattered as she had left his so many years beforehand. His humorous slant on the moment shattered to a million pieces when none other than his presumed-t0-be-dead ex-wife appeared, "Hello, Conrad."

His stomach tied into a knot, sickened by the realisation that she had escaped any punishment for her prior actions, while Conrad faced the consequences and had been trapped behind bars until death. "Victoria…"

The huskiness of his voice wrapped around her name and Victoria tilted her head, filled with an incredulous satisfaction. She didn't deny the years had started to take their toll; her previous raven-black hair had now taken a salt-and-pepper tone and the abrasive shades of blue underneath her eyes started to feel more permanent. But Victoria noticed the years had been much kinder to her than they had Conrad, his hair completely lost of any colour and his body frail. Pride in her every move, Victoria accepted the seat opposite her ex-husband and she kept a firm eye on the warden, to ensure of his presence as Conrad remained silent in comprehension. "Don't you look… well," she noted.

Conrad squeezed each hand into a ball, infuriated by the pretension behind her voice, "Well, well, well… I should have known better than to believe the rumours." He started to feel more of a fool than ever before, "I should have rooted in the remains of that plane until I found some kind of proof that you were actually on it."

"I came here because I wanted to inform you of my status in person, before the press received word." Victoria became no-nonsense and she studied the dethroned Grayson King with a blissful expression. She may have held contempt in her heart for Emily and her actions but Victoria admired the woman for her dispossession of Conrad. "And I wanted to update on Sophia's condition since the accident," she added, her tone sincere.

"Accident?" He repeated, bewildered.

"Oh, you didn't know?" The pretence became clear in Victoria's voice but Conrad remained silent, desperate for news of Sophia. "Of course you didn't know, Conrad. No one told you, did they?" She dreamily exhaled, "No one bothered to inform you because you cease to exist in Daniel's mind or even Emily's." Her nails tapped on the metal surface between them, "After Sophia's involvement in the hit-and-run last month, she's started to walk without crutches. There's been no permanent problem so soon she'll be able to put the entire period behind her and move forward. We all will," Victoria concluded, the celebration evident.

"And you really believe our son will accept you after the lies you've constructed?" Conrad scoffed.

She rose to the occasion, "He already has." Her wicked smile taunted Conrad, "It took some effort but I'm back where I should have been for the past 20 years, with my son and his children."

Conrad scowled, "You can't be serious."

His ex-wife rose her eyebrow, as if the task she had accomplished were the most menial. "Soon word will spread of my return and I'll look forward to another summer in the Hampton's… of course, then before you know it, the holiday season arrives and a year will have passed and it will feel like I had never even left. Meanwhile, you'll be stuck here." Her mouth formed a pout of detestation, "And Conrad Grayson will be completely void to them."

"Well, I always knew you would cross me when you had the chance. Loyalty never has been a concept you've been able to understand well, has it Victoria?" His lips curled to a snarl, "If by some Grayson-funded miracle, you do escape conviction for your involvement in David Clarke's imprisonment, you're not really naïve to believe that our son's wife would let you anywhere near as close as you were with Daniel before you left, are you?" As devious as she could be, experience endowed Conrad with the aptitude to read Victoria like an open book, where it concerned their children. "Let me see; did you have a heart-t0-heart, Victoria? When you looked in her eyes, did you see her or did you see_ him _instead? Maybe you were even able to detect pieces of Charlotte," he noted, and Victoria's eyes flickered. "She's reeled you in, Victoria, and she'll only spit you out when she's done with you. She won't be completely satisfied unless everyone involved in the fate we sealed for her father has paid and you," Conrad pointed in Victoria's direction, "Are the last pillar to fall."

Her ex-husband's words stirred the previous distrust she had perceived from the earthly Emily Thorne upon her arrival in the Hampton's. Without any suitable comeback, Victoria simply returned a sickly smile and rose from her seat, pride in her every movement, "Goodbye, Conrad."

Happy to see Victoria riled by his words, Conrad playfully smirked back, "Goodbye, Victoria."

She made a swift, noble departure from the prison and climbed into the back of the black Porsche, which Daniel had provided to run her errand, insistent that she be escorted. "Home, please." She instructed the driver and spent the entire journey back to Grayson Manor in deep contemplation; did Conrad make an observation that her love for David had allowed her to bury in the shadows of her heart? Had Emily _really_ fulfilled her need to exact revenge on the Grayson's or did she have more in store for them, even Daniel?

Victoria considered the pros and cons to the question, which remained unanswered by the time she returned home. The murmurs of various family members in conversation and the smell of a home-cooked meal warmed her heart, and each one of her reservations were brushed underneath the carpet. "I'm home," she announced, as she removed her coat.

"Welcome home, mom," Daniel called from the kitchen. "How did your errand go?"

"It went… as expected," his mother kissed his cheek.

"Dinner's almost done so I hope you're still a fan of Indian," he checked, and Victoria nodded in confirmation. "Sophia's in her room and Jacob and Hannah are outside but Charley's in the den, if you want to make yourself comfortable."

As Daniel returned to Emily in the kitchen, Victoria entered the den and found Charlotte curled on the sofa with a book balanced on her knees, "Did your father ever tell you how much your aunt Charlotte loved to read?" Victoria dreamily recalled, so easily reminded of her deceased child merely by the appearance of Charlotte. "Especially when she started to learn, she always had her head stuck inside one." She smiled, even able to picture her daughter sat on the bottom of the stairs with her favourite book. "What book is it?"

"Catcher in the Rye by –" Charlotte started to respond.

"Oh, I remember how much your father loved to read it." Victoria cheerfully pried the novel from Charlotte's hands and shook her head, "I could never understand it." She exhaled, "Not such a surprise really since I've never been able to understand that kind of teen angst before." Ready to snatch her chance, Victoria closed in, "I know my return must be hardest for you to take in; Sophia's the one who asked me home, Jacob and Hannah don't really understand but you've come home and here I am." Upon Charlotte's return home, Victoria had sensed a confused disconnection from her and hoped she could settle any uneasiness between them. "I know how confused you must feel, you've been told your entire childhood of the dead woman and I'm back. I know you've only just come home but it does concern me that you and I haven't really had much of a chance to discuss how you feel about me and I wondered…" she admitted, more insecure than normal for Victoria Grayson in terms of Charlotte's reaction.

"In the words of Holden Caulfield," Charlotte reached for the book and patted the cover of it, "You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth." Her words sparked Victoria's eyes to flare and she shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know you, after what I've heard about you, I'm not sure I would want to know you. My sister has some deep fascination with you because you're both so similar in appearance but I pray that's as far as the resemblance falls."

Her father's face appeared in interruption, "Charley, can you help set-up the table for dinner?"

Charlotte nodded her head, set aside the book and brushed past Victoria, who's face had sadly fallen at Charlotte's response to her question and Daniel frowned, "Mom, are you okay?"

Brave-faced, Victoria smiled at her son. "I'm just worried about whether I made the smart decision to come back." She noticed Daniel pull back, almost insulted by her remark and reached out for him, "I hate how much my return threatens to unsettle your lives," Victoria confessed.

"Let me handle it, mom." Daniel pleaded. He didn't doubt the media would hustle him for confirmation and there may even be a backlash for Grayson Global in the upcoming months but Daniel felt certain it would be worth it, just to have his mother back. "I know I didn't react the best way possible when I found out you were alive and there's going to be a period of adjustment but you're back where you always should have been and that's what really counts." His hand supportively squeezed hers, "Mom, there's not much the same as when you left. Emily has really made a difference in my life and it has all been for the best; I can run Grayson Global and not care what people will say if I make mistakes, I can drink wine with dinner and not end up passed out by the end of the meal," he proudly chuckled. "I'm a different man because of her and she may have come into our lives with bad intentions but she's been the person who became the best influence over me."

A little envy entered Victoria's heart and she smiled at her son, "I'm happy for you, Daniel."

Yet, despite Daniel's insistence of Emily's influence on him, Conrad's voice returned to an echo in her head; _"…she's reeled you in, Victoria, and she'll only spit you out when she's done with you. She won't be completely satisfied unless everyone involved in the fate we sealed for her father has paid and you are the last pillar to fall." _


	29. The Outrage of Injustice

"_Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are_." – **Benjamin Franklin**

* * *

Rumours of Victoria's return to the Grayson family fold soon circulated as summer fast approached the Hampton's and a media circus entailed, as the American public demanded confirmation of the matriarch's possible return.

"No comment!" Charlotte repetitively screamed, as she battled her way through the wall of news reporters camped outside her childhood home, all in protest of the Grayson's deathly silence. Her father had refused to publish a statement, much too proud to be forced to answer to outside forces, but his decision only seemed to provoke more backlash. An exhale of relief escaped her body as she stepped into the property lines and the reporters were locked out and she made a calmer entrance into her home.

From the den, Victoria appeared with a demure frown on her face, "Your father said security would deal with them." She hadn't dared to near the windows but she could hear the furious screams outside; it reminded her of Daniel's murder trial and how easily the public could turn on families like hers.

Charlotte furiously removed her coat, "If they're not in our property lines, they can't be prosecuted."

The claustrophobia started to squeeze like a noose around Victoria's neck, no matter how broad Grayson Manor was, and the frustration threatened any common sense she possessed. She refused to be hounded like an animal. "I'll speak to your father and have him release a statement." The reaction to her return interfered with the children's lives and Victoria knew Charlotte already held a disdain for her and her past crimes. "This madness needs to end."

"I couldn't agree more," Charlotte nodded, civil but not openly communicative toward the woman. She smoothed over her plaid skirt and peered into the den, "Where is everyone?"

"Your father is in the kitchen and I believe your mother's on her way home from Nolan's." Before Charlotte could slip away in the hopes to avoid her presence, Victoria reached for her hand and softly held her back, "Charlotte," Victoria's hand immediately loosened when Charlotte faced her with a resentful expression. "I hope you know how sorry I am for the chaos my return has introduced to your lives. My intentions were never to cause so much trouble."

"Well, that's okay then, isn't it?" She snapped, "Your intentions were honourable so you shouldn't be punished." Charlotte narrowed her eyes and motioned to the entrance, "Why do you think those people are out there, Victoria? They're there because my father somehow ruffled feathers at the SEC and you've escaped any justice for what you did to David Clarke."

"They're there because they like to stand out from the crowd, Charlotte." Her father's voice boomed in return, defensive of his mother as he watched the scene from the kitchen. "And I didn't ruffle anyone's feathers, your grandmother was cleared of any charges because her role in the cover-up was minimal and the real perpetrators are behind bars." Daniel corrected, "Now the people outside are there because they want to stir up more trouble for the one-percent but if they see that we're not to be played with and remain loyal to one another then the entire scandal will die down." Daniel could see the defiance in Charlotte's eyes; so reminiscent of his own once before. "If you don't think you can do that, ask yourself this question; is it because you're really as outraged as those people out there, or is it because your loyalty's torn between your mother and mine?" Her father asked, able to see just how little Charlotte understood of the situation.

She shook her head, her eyes lowered to the floor momentarily before they met her father's, even more defiant than before and Daniel knew she wouldn't easily drop it. "One of the rules you most drilled into me when I was growing up was the importance of honesty and justice. When I purposely snapped off the head of Sophia's Barbie doll because I was jealous, you were the one who convinced me to confess and accept the punishment. You explained to me how justice wasn't about an eye for an eye but about acceptance of the mistakes you've made. Why doesn't that apply now?"

"Your grandmother regrets what happened, you know that," Daniel protested.

"Yeah, she does now, doesn't she?" Charlotte snapped, "But like you asked me back then; does she regret what happened or does she just regret that she got caught?"

Daniel stood speechless for the answer and Charlotte turned on her heels in the direction of her bedroom. He turned to his mother with a sorrowful expression and exhaled, "I'm sorry…"

His mother sadly shook her head, "Don't be." She pursed her lips and watched the brunette curls fly into the bedroom moments before the door slammed shut. "She has every reason to be mad. All I've done since I came back is cause more tension… I haven't even spent much time with any of my grandchildren. In fact, Sophia's probably the only one I've held down a real conversation with." Whenever she spoke to Hannah, the child would simply ask why her aunt Charlotte didn't come back from heaven with her and Jacob seemed reluctant to even make eye contact. To strike conversation with Charlotte just seemed to become more painful with every attempt, not just because of Charlotte's resistance but the kind of memories it provoked from Victoria. "She reminds me so much of your sister sometimes; it's eerie." She forced a smile onto her face as she blocked any memories of Charlotte that threatened to suffocate her chest. "How's dinner?"

"Almost ready and not burnt," Daniel proudly answered.

Victoria looked surprised, "My son, the cook… I remember the years when you only knew how to burn toast."

Her son rolled his eyes, "Ha-ha, those were the days." Daniel peered into the oven and checked his watch, "I hope Emily makes it home before it's served. She's the one who taught me to cook, you know?"

"Really?" She checked, a smile instilled on her face at the information, but Conrad's words had only acted as another splash of petrol to the already furious flames of fire that had represented the distrust Victoria had in the woman. "Well, I'll wash up and I'll be back down in a second."

On her way to her bedroom, Victoria paused outside Charlotte's room and knocked, against her own judgement. "Come in.

She pushed open the door and found the teen stretched out on the bed with "The Catcher in the Rye" in her hands. "One of the themes of that book is teen confusion. Holden ends the book with as much confusion as he started with. His views didn't find a different perspective and the questions he had remained." Victoria stood beside the bed, "I know you must have some questions for me, so why don't you ask me what you want to know?"

An annoyed frown came from Charlotte and she discarded her book aside. "I know all I need to know about you."

Victoria raised an eyebrow, "Oh…"

Charlotte shuffled to a more superior position, "You framed David Clarke, a man who loved you and you claimed to love, because you didn't love him as much as you loved the wealth and position Conrad could offer you. You helped Conrad and one of the most dangerous organisations in the world to carry out an act of domestic terrorism on American soil. In court, you took the stand and testified for the prosecution and you ripped away the only parent my mother had left. Not only did you strip her from the only family she had known, you locked her away in an institution because you knew she was the only one who knew your sordid little secret and could expose you. Did I miss an important part?"

"Did you know David fathered your aunt?" Victoria nonchalantly added and Charlotte's eyes widened in disbelief. "I found out I had fallen pregnant on the eve of David's arrest and I attempted to save him before they could arrest him but…" She had been too late with her change of heart and David's fate had already been sealed.

"Does my dad know?" Charlotte checked.

"The truth came out around the time your parents became engaged. It broke Charlotte. It probably spiralled her abuse of prescription pills and your father's probably never had the same trust in me since then." She rubbed her forehead, "I know your mother suffered a loss because of my actions but I suffered a loss too when David was arrested. Worse still, I was the one responsible for what had happened and I lived with it for years. Perhaps, if I hadn't let it happen," Victoria settled on the very tip of the bed and bowed her head, "Then we could have lived a different life than the one we did." The family portrait of herself, David and their children settled in her mind but she desperately shook herself free. "And Charlotte's addiction wouldn't have had such a hold over her and she would be here." No doubt, David would have shown Charlotte the unconditional love Victoria had never been able to show their child and her addiction may never have developed. "Whether you believe me or not, there's no greater punishment than the realisation that your own actions may have inadvertently caused your own child's death. I know because I'm overwhelmed with the guilt."

"I don't know what to say –" Charlotte admitted, overwhelmed with even more revelation of secrets.

"Well, just know that, in answer to your question, I'm sorry for what happened. I'm not sorry that the truth came out," she confessed. "I waited every day since David's trial for the cover-up to be exposed." And the wait had been unbearable.

When her grandmother rose from the bed, Charlotte paralleled Victoria's own actions and reached out for her hand to hold her back. A half-hearted smile spread across her lips, in a silent form of acceptance, and she pulled the older woman into their first ever embrace. None of Victoria's pain – just another repercussion of her own actions – made a difference to the way Charlotte felt about the injustice but she started to wonder if anything ever would.


	30. Time and Patience

"_The strongest of all warriors are these two – Time and Patience_." – **Leo Tolstoy **

* * *

"R-E-T-R-I-B-U-T-I-O-N," Charlotte tapped each block as she counted the letters of the word.

"Triple word score, nice one, Grams!" Sophia proudly applauded Victoria, who shuffled backwards to make herself more comfortable as she sipped on her wine and Charlotte noted down the points awarded.

"I told you, she's an expert," Daniel reminded, happy to sit back and watch the scene with Emily cuddled on top of him. It started to feel like the norm as the family bonded in such a run-of-the-mill, un-Grayson time of boredom. Charlotte's pen flipped onto the table and Daniel chuckled at her frustration, "She's still ahead of you, huh?"

"It's not about losers and winners, Daniel." His mother scolded him, as Hannah deliberated over whether to spell the word cat with a "C" or a "K" with Sophia before she proudly placed the blocks onto the board.

Daniel scoffed, "Mom, seriously?" His eyebrow rose with an ironic expression; his mother knew very well how often it had been drilled into him to fight 'til the bitter end and Victoria returned his remark with a wicked smirk. The attention soon returned to the board and Daniel nudged Emily's arm, "Are you okay?" She had been unusually quiet, her eyes never appeared to meet his mothers' and they barely spoke. "You barely touched your food." His head motioned to the not even half-eaten plate of food, where the leftovers remained.

His wife nodded, "Yeah, I'm just exhausted." She shifted to balance her body on his knees, "And with the media attention, life hasn't exactly been easy for any of us recently," Emily pointed out. "It would be nice to have some peace."

"I know," Daniel sadly confessed.

"I should clear the table before we decide to turn in," Emily stood from the chair and started to clear away the dishes.

Once in the kitchen, Emily scraped the plates clean from food and Victoria wandered into the kitchen, "Jacob's decided to read the entire dictionary before he takes his turn," she chuckled. "We could be here for years before he chooses." Her eyes surveyed the scene, "Did you need a hand with the clean-up?"

Emily shook her head, more uncomfortable than ever in Victoria's presence. Since their heart-to-heart, she had hoped the old tension between them would have faded but her mother-in-law's attitude seemed to have evolved since her "errand" a couple days before. "I can handle it. It'll be your turn soon," she looked in on her children. "They really seem to have taken to you. They've missed out on the concept of a grandparent. For obvious reasons, Conrad hasn't been ideal." She shiftily looked toward Victoria and narrowed her eyes, "Where exactly does he stand in your books? I mean, before you _left_, you and he were at each other's throats and I'm sure he's heard of your return. He would probably like to see you."

"I've already seen him," Victoria confidently answered.

"When?" Emily checked.

"The day you asked me to stay here with all of you." Emily recalled that that had been the very time Victoria's attitude had done a 180° and Emily knew Conrad must have been responsible.

"Well, I'm sure he had plenty of questions for you." The blonde felt mildly annoyed by the fact that she hadn't been able to witness such a confrontation but swept it from her mind as she loaded the dishwasher and awaited Victoria's response.

"Actually, he had more accusations than questions; he warned me to stay away from you." Victoria confided, as her nails nibbled on the edge of the kitchen counter and she did her very best to read Emily's eyes. "He even alluded to the fact that you weren't done with your vengeance on my family and that included my son."

A memorable frown appeared and Emily scowled, "He's still suspicious of my motives, even after all these years. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. He lost it all because of me." She chewed on her lip and tilted her head as she eyed Victoria, "He doesn't trust me and probably never will. The real question is; do you?" If she were ever to confront the woman, this was the best possible time and Victoria uncharacteristically faltered under her intensive stare.

The older woman looked contemplatively at Emily before she exhaled, "Trust is a weakness, Amanda. You and I know that better than most because we learnt it from bitter experience. I don't trust you anymore than I trust someone I meet on the street. In fact, I don't trust you anymore now than I did when Daniel became interested in you, way back when. And despite the mistakes I've made, and the various times I've disappointed him," Victoria closed in, the expression of a menace as she fought for survival. "Don't be naïve to believe that you could really separate me from him. He may fall under your spell but his loyalty has always been and always will be to his family; and I'm a part of that."

Emily had expected no less from Victoria; the woman was the human-form of self-preservation. "You may have been once before, Victoria. But I've been here for the past 20 years, beside him, mother of his children…"

Before Victoria could respond, Daniel entered the kitchen, "Mom, it's your turn." He casually informed but his cheery face faded as he felt the moody atmosphere cloud him, "Are you two okay?"

"We were just in the middle of a debate," Emily sweetly pretended. "Your mother's under the impression that the media attention would die down if I confessed that I'm the real Amanda Clarke. I told her the idea's ridiculous; the only way to divert their attention is to show that we're not affected and they'll soon lose interest."

"Whoa, hold on… mom could be onto an idea here," Daniel replied, as he pointed to Victoria.

"What did I tell you?" Victoria played her part, with a small smile on her lips as her point was proven. Daniel would always side with her despite whatever temptation Emily offered to lure him away from the troubles of a Grayson. "I knew you would see the bigger picture, sweetheart," she proudly patted his back.

"This could be the answer to our troubles," Daniel became more enthusiastic by the second, much to Emily's shock, as she had simply conjured the lie in the heat of the moment. "If the public can see that David Clarke's child has been able to forgive and forget, maybe they'll follow suit." His wide eyes pleaded with Emily at the prospect, "We've tried to ignore the attention but we won't be able to shake them off without a united front and _this_ would be perfect."

Emily vehemently shook her head, "I can't do that, Daniel. Not to Amanda. Remember she hasn't told Chris the truth."

Her husband frowned, "Doesn't he deserve the truth?"

The blonde backed away from the confrontation, "It wouldn't be easy for him, it would only hurt him and if I were to come out as the real Amanda Clarke then the media would only be more determined for a statement."

Torn between the two women, Daniel looked towards his mother for advice, "Mom?"

"I've said my peace. I think Emily understands the way I feel," she carefully eyed the woman and waltzed from the room.

Frustrated by the turn of events, Emily clenched her fists and sternly glared at Daniel. "Don't look at me like that, Daniel. I can't sell Amanda out just because it suits you. She never did. She's been loyal to me from the start." Aside from a minor difference of opinion and the odd hitch, Amanda had stuck with the plan and shown she could be counted on. "She's never blackmailed me, she has always had as much to lose as I have and even when Sophia came close to the truth, she stuck to the story we made. She has only ever asked one thing of me and that was to ensure her son would never be faced with the pain of the truth." Emily took Daniel's other hand in hers and faithfully looked into his eyes, "Now that I know the kind of hurt you faced with the truth, how could I do the same to her and her son?" She touched his cheek, "I'm sorry, babe."

Daniel blew out from his lips, "Then, what?"

"If we can just hold on, wait them out and eventually they'll be bored." Her hands squeezed his, in an attempt to provide the support he needed, "Someone else will come into the headlines with an even more scandalous story than ours and the news of your mother's return will fade to a distant memory for everyone. Give it time to pass, Daniel. All you need is a little patience," she pleaded.

A goofy grin appeared, "I've never been good with that."

Her eyebrow rose, "Well, you are a Grayson…" she noted, as she realised just how much patience she would need to deal with the Ice Queen, who had returned to top form, formidable as she ever had been.


	31. The Pure and Simple Truth

"_The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple_." – **Oscar Wilde**

* * *

After twenty years of schemes, lies and manipulation, Emily had learned one important lesson; secrets are always revealed. Whether the consequences of such a lesson balanced in her favour or not, Emily could never be certain. But, when CNN reported rumours of the _real_ Amanda Clarke, Emily knew she didn't have the upper hand.

"Keep calm, okay? I promise you, I can fix it." Her panicked attempt to console Amanda probably had the same effect as petrol on a flame but Emily didn't know how else to end such a frantic phone call.

"How could they know?" Charlotte scowled, "I don't understand, who would tell the press?"

"I have a pretty fine idea," her mother barked, her eyes narrowed with suspicion in the direction of Victoria.

Her mother-in-law scoffed, amused by the accusation, "You're under the impression I went to the press and told them that you're the real Amanda Clarke?" She rolled her eyes, "While I may admit the action in question does have my prints all over it, I had no involvement whatsoever in this. Believe me, don't believe me; either way, the truth has come out and you need to decide how to handle it." Many a scandal in her prime had educated Victoria and she knew very well that the best way to address such a backlash was to face it immediately upfront.

The blonde nodded her head, "I couldn't agree more." She strolled into the foyer and reached for Victoria's cream coat from the stand by the entrance to her home. "Step one; I want you out of my house and out of our lives."

Sophia's eyes widened, "Mom, you can't be serious?"

Even Charlotte looked supremely surprised by the decision, "She said she didn't do it, mom."

"One day you'll learn," Emily smiled bittersweet. "Your Grandmother says plenty but you can only be assured that she's told the truth when it works for her own sick amusement." She briskly shoved the coat to Victoria's chest, "We'll be sure to send you a card in the holidays."

The front door sprung open and Daniel surveyed the scene before him, "What's going on?"

His wife shot him an expression that dared him to confront her decision, "Your mother's just about to leave." With both hands on her hips, Emily brushed aside the blonde sweeps of hair in her eyes, "You shouldn't have to ask why, I assume you've seen the carloads of reporters outside our home." Her voice softened, "Everyone knows, Daniel. They know who I am," she darkened once more when she looked to Victoria, "And it doesn't take much to know who's to blame."

"Grams already said she didn't do it," Sophia protectively defended, her eyes clashing with her mothers' as she balanced on her crutches. "Mom has no proof to say that she did."

"I know, I know," Daniel soothingly replied, before he faced his wife. "Mom's not the source."

The look of satisfaction on Victoria's face burned holes in Emily's chest and she scoffed, with a shake of her head, "Daniel, I can't believe you would take her side over mine. She's doing exactly what she did before we were married, she's trying to separate us. If you really believe this mother Theresa act of hers, you're a fool."

Daniel bowed his head, "I know my mom isn't the source because… I am." A deathly silence filled the room, as no one dared to take another breath, "I'm the one that tipped off the reporters. I've had the media department call in an expert to help them release a statement from Grayson Global. It'll be on the news," he checked his watch, "In the next few minutes." His brown eyes looked helplessly toward his wife for her reaction, hopeful that she would understand. His matter-of-fact attitude faded away and left the Daniel she had fallen in love with, "Emily…"

"How could you do this, Daniel?" She frowned, "When I asked you not to tell the truth and you disobeyed my request."

"Mom…" Charlotte increased the volume on the television.

All of a sudden, pictures of herself and Daniel flashed on the left side of the screen as the other half appeared with Daniel and a familiar British face as they provided a statement on behalf of Grayson Global. "The Grayson's would like to confirm the recent speculation that has concerned Emily Grayson…"

As her voice trailed off, and Daniel stood silently beside, Emily's eyes widened, "Ashley Davenport. She's the _expert_ you called in?"

"She's known the family for years," Daniel cried out.

"We haven't spoken to her since the day we married," Emily screeched, more furious by the second.

"Listen, Emily, I know you're upset now but I made the best decision possible for everyone. If the rest of America can see that you've forgiven my mother for what she did then maybe they will." His attempt at justification sounded sore out loud but Daniel finally felt relief that all the secrets were out, and there was no more reason to run. "You don't have to hide who you are anymore and there's no need to pretend. I stand by my decision," he concluded.

"What about Jack and Amanda?" His wife screamed, "Did you consider them when you made this decision? Or how about how Chris will feel when he hears that his mother is not the person he's been led to believe?" She pointed to Charlotte and Sophia, "The kind of pain our children felt is the kind you've just inflicted on their son, Daniel."

"He deserves the truth," Daniel remarked.

"That's not why you made that press release." Emily angrily retaliated, "Your decision was selfish and so like a –"

His eyes narrowed, "A, what?"

"A Grayson!" Emily's response came back even louder than anticipated.

"Well, I hate to be the one to break this to you so many years later but I was Daniel Grayson when you married me. You knew that from the start. Unlike me," he shrugged his shoulders. "I'm the one who found out twenty years later that you have never been the woman you say you are!" His words bit hard and Emily's face dropped, her lips that were curled into a snarl had even fallen, and Daniel wiped his forehead, "Look, Emily, I'm sorry." Daniel pleaded, "But, when the truth about you came out, I forgave you; not only that, I respected your decision! Don't you think I deserve the same courtesy?"

Disbelief flashed across Emily's features, "You're using _that_ as a bargaining chip?"

Daniel started to panic, "No..." Victoria, Charlotte and Sophia held back in an awkward fashion as Emily slipped on her coat and Daniel chased her to the doorway, his hand reaching out to grab her arm, "Where are you going?"

"Away from you," Emily snatched herself from his touch. Her eyes softened and looked toward Charlotte, who looked more frightful than a deer caught in headlights, "I'll be at Nolan's, if you need me. Look after your brother and sister." Her brown eyes trailed to Victoria and, with a lick of her lips, she exhaled, "I'm sorry, Victoria. I shouldn't have accused you."

The door slammed and just like that, Emily had left. While Daniel knew his decision would cause backlash, he hadn't expected her to leave. No chocolates, flowers or perfume would correct such an error and Daniel knew better than to chase after her so soon. With a heavy breath, he turned and to face his relatives, "She needs some time on her own, that's all. She'll be back tomorrow once she's cleared her head, had a chance to think," he promised.

Charlotte looked defiant, "I wouldn't be so confident, if I were you."

"Charley," her father pleaded.

"How could you play on mom like that?" She looked disappointed, "She trusted you, dad, and you broke that trust."

The brunette stalked from the room and Daniel's eyes turned to Sophia, who formed her grandmother's pout. "I know you're just as mad but you know this could make it easier for you and Chris, now that he knows the truth."

On her crutches, Sophia approached, "The fact that I don't have to lie to Chris anymore does make it a little easier to swallow but you should have confided in mom first. I'm furious," she confessed, "But I still love you." With a kiss on his cheek, Sophia started up the stairs with a yawn of exhaustion.

"Well…" Daniel clasped his hands, "I suppose it could have been worse."

His mother's eyebrow rose, "Somehow, I doubt that. The fact that you decided to out Emily didn't seem to hurt half as much as the fact that you used Ashley Davenport to do it." Victoria's comment sparked an exhale of frustration and Daniel rubbed his eyes, "Of all the people you could have chosen, Daniel. I may not have been around for the past twenty years but even I can see how inappropriate that was; the poor girl vied for your attention from the day she met you." Daniel's forehead crinkled with amusement at how the word "poor" sounded more of an insult than a pitiful label. Her lips pursed in contemplation, "Have you decided what you'll do next, now that the truth is out? It's the Memorial Day art auction in a couple more weeks. It'll be your first appearance of the season. Appearances won't look good if you and Emily don't attend the event as a couple."

Daniel blanked her comment, "I'm not concerned with that, mom, not yet, at least. The top of my to-do list is to explain to my children why their mother won't be here to tuck them in for bed."

"Why don't you let me handle Jacob and Hannah?" Victoria offered, as she kissed his cheek. "And don't worry about Emily; I'm sure the two of you will work it out. Much as I don't like to admit it, you appear to be the perfect couple." She rolled her eyes, " Besides, you're not exactly in your prime anymore, sweetheart. Divorcee doesn't suit you."

He chuckled at her comment, "Thanks, mom."


	32. Another Secret

"_There's always another secret.._." **– Brandon Sanderson**

* * *

The start of the season, Memorial Day rolled around and Emily still hadn't returned home.

"Grandma, can you make my hair look pretty?" Hannah raced into Victoria's room and pulled on her arm. "Mommy promised she would but she can't because she's not home."

Her matter-of-fact tone of voice broke Daniel's heart but Hannah didn't notice his reaction, as Victoria bowed down and brushed her blonde curls from her face, "Of course, I can, sweetheart. I'll come and find you, okay?" Satisfied by Victoria's response to her request, Hannah rushed out of the room in her flowery dress and Victoria followed her son out onto the terrace which overlooked the Porter's home.

Daniel exhaled, "She misses her mom." The children did, he did, even Victoria.

His eyes were decorated with a blue pattern underneath and Victoria knew very well Daniel had barely slept since Emily had left. In the years she had been absent, she had encountered a similar problem. To be thrown from full chaotic Grayson family life into a world of solidarity had been the hardest part of it all. "Have you spoken to Emily?"

"She won't take my calls," Daniel answered.

"Perhaps you'll have more luck at the art auction. She wouldn't miss an opportunity to see the children." The third wheel in a "private" phone call between Emily and Charlotte had assured Victoria of Emily's attendance.

"With Nolan Ross on her arm," her son countered, as he overlooked the Porter home. "I remember the days she and I used to spend down there, mom." Those years seemed so simple when he looked back. Back then, the worst crime his parents had committed was their suspicious involvement in his DUI case after the accident. "If I close my eyes, I can be back there and I can feel the way I felt then… except, I don't know how she feels anymore. I don't know what's real, and what isn't." He shook his head free, "I don't know, maybe it has taken me until now to realise just how confused I am."

"Well, if there's one lesson I've learned, it's not to wallow in the past too much. It'll only wear you down, Daniel." Victoria eyed the small home and exhaled; her memories were just as bittersweet as Daniel's could have been. "My relationship with your father was never particularly innocent. My mother always instructed me to make my own fate and I did. I did all I could to make him love me, despite the commitments he already had, and Conrad did. He risked his position at Grayson Global, he divorced his wife and he married me. In all that, he had been somehow convinced that we were meant to be and I knew none of it had been a coincidence." She rose her eyebrow at her past indiscretion, "But when you play out such a pretence, sometimes the lines can be blurred. I did love Conrad, much as I didn't want to admit it. The years I spent married to him, before I met David Clarke, weren't forced or an act, Daniel, and I refuse to believe that the years Emily spent with you were either. No matter what her name is, she loves you."

His mother's advice warmed his heart and Daniel's lips curled upwards for a delicately soft smile at Victoria, "And you had me under the impression that you would hate her until the day you died," he teased.

Victoria rolled her eyes, "I did die, remember?"

Daniel's face whitened, not amused by her response. The tone suddenly became serious once more, "D'you think she'll be able to understand why I made the decision I made?" He asked, as his eyes searched hers for a motherly assurance.

"You won't know unless you speak to her this afternoon," Victoria pointed out. She strolled back inside, as she called back to her son, "I want you downstairs in the foyer in the next five minutes; I don't want to be late for my first formal appearance since my return from the dead." She concluded, with a sarcastic tone of voice, as she closed the door to his bedroom and made her way to Hannah's room. "Hannah," she opened the door and found the blonde in the middle of a battle with the hairbrush.

"I can't undo the knot," Hannah furiously whined with a childish pout.

She stifled her chuckle and took the hairbrush from her hand, "Your aunt Charlotte used to be just as hopeless. She used to come out of the shower with her wet hair and refused to let me comb it. Then, when she woke up for school, it would be an awful mess." Sat behind Hannah, Victoria carefully worked the brush between Hannah's bouncy curls, so reminiscent of the nine year old hidden behind the kitchen counter in that summer storm. "She always wanted an older sister to help her out because it wasn't very cool to have your mother help you," Victoria added, in a feigned serious tone. "But she soon learnt to do her hair all by herself and she'd probably do a much better job than I could here."

Hannah frowned, confused. "Why can't she just come back?" She asked a question often asked, by both her and Jacob in the aftermath of Victoria's return, "You came back, maybe one day she will." The prospect resonated in Victoria's head and she didn't have the heart to break Hannah's little fantasy dream.

A knock came from Daniel in the doorway, "Hey, beautiful."

"Everyone ready?" Charlotte appeared beside him, dressed in a white flower-patterned maxi dress.

"To see the mother who's walked out and the boyfriend I've lied to for weeks? Sure, why not?" Sophia crutched towards the stairs in her favourite lilac playsuit.

"We're off to a brilliant start," Daniel remarked to Victoria, down-heartened by Sophia's bad mood.

The family made their way downstairs, "Oh, stop it, Daniel. I want this afternoon to be perfect," his mother reprimanded. "I know I may have been away for some time but surely you remember that what Victoria Grayson wants, she makes happen." Her reminder came with a perfect smile and Daniel's eyes narrowed, wary of her comment, as the door knocked and Charlotte went to answer it, "Ah, perfect. They're spot on."

Daniel frowned, "Who?"

Charlotte opened the door wide to her mother and Nolan, "Mom?"

"Nolan and I decided the family could arrive as a family unit to the art auction. Did I neglect to mention that?" Victoria feigned innocence, her bottom lip bitten as Daniel and Emily both looked pissed. "Well, come on… I know I said I wanted to be fashionably late but I don't want to miss the arrival pictures."

Both Nolan and Victoria ushered the children from the house and Daniel stretched out his arm to allow Emily to leave before him, "I'm sorry about this," he muttered. "I should have known my mom had some kind of scheme on."

Emily remained brief, "Nolan had me just as fooled."

"There's no reason we couldn't make the best of the situation," Daniel offered, before they reached the limo outside.

Her hand smacked onto his chest to hold him in one position, out of earshot from the children, "If your mother and Nolan decide they want to play cupid to keep themselves occupied, that's their decision and for the sake of the children, I'll play along but none of this makes any difference, Daniel. You betrayed me. You went ahead and made a decision that concerned the entire family and didn't bother to consult, or even warn, any of us beforehand." As the family waited for them, Emily exhaled, "I don't want to discuss this here but we are far from over this, Daniel."

The sombre mood shadowed an overcast on the event as the family rode to the docks in an awkward chatter forced by both Nolan and Victoria. Upon arrival, the Grayson family posed for the perfect pretence, with the polite refusal to comment on the recent reports that concerned Amanda Clarke. As Nolan darted towards the bar first, Charlotte and Sophia mixed with old friends, Jacob and Hannah occupied themselves with the children's activities and Victoria spoke to the press about her return to the Hampton's social scene, Daniel and Emily stood beside one another in a moody silence. Once Emily reached for the first offer of Champagne, Daniel pulled her to one side, "We really need to talk."

She brushed him off, "And I told you; not here."

Daniel's eyes pleaded, "Then, where? You won't take my calls, you won't see me…"

"Ashley?" Emily's eyes diverted behind him, to where to old family friend started to approach.

"Hi," Ashley looked awkward.

"Hi, how're you?" Gracious as always, Emily leaned in and kissed her cheek. "I heard you were back in town. I couldn't possibly speculate as to why," she added. "Last I heard from you, you had moved back to London. Now you're here."

Both Daniel and Ashley sensed how irritated Emily appeared by her presence and Ashley nodded, "Yeah, I came back to New York for work and I was ready to travel back to London but Daniel called with the news. I stuck around and I received an invitation for the event, so I decided for old times' sake, why not?" She looked full of reassurance toward both Emily and Daniel, "I fly back to London early next week."

As the conversation fell short, Victoria approached, "Miss Davenport, we didn't expect to see you here."

Ashley attempted to hide her nervousness, "Just to visit, Mrs Grayson."

Daniel bowed his head and Emily finished her drink in one mouthful, "Don't tell me you're here alone?"

"Actually, I'm not." Her head motioned for someone to approach and a boy that looked around twenty strolled over in an Armani suit and deep brown eyes, "Edward, I'd like for you to meet Daniel, Emily and Victoria Grayson. I worked for Mrs Grayson when I lived here many years before. Daniel and Emily are old friends," she introduced.

"Hi," Edward stretched out a hand to Daniel.

Daniel accepted the hand, "Edward…"

"Well, well, well…" Emily exchanged her empty glass for a full one and swallowed it down. "Just when you think it couldn't be any worse, you realise you've only experienced the calm before the storm." The name of the former Grayson patriarch, those all-too-familiar deep brown eyes, that Grayson posture he could hold without effort. Her comment seemed to baffle Daniel, "It suddenly makes so much sense. Why you hired Ashley and why she came back…" Emily's eyes were filled with hatred as she looked to her husband, "I may have pretended to be someone else for twenty years but you were the one who convinced me that nothing happened between the two of you. Now, who's the fool?" She patted his back with a low whisper to him, "Congratulations, daddy!"


	33. Shedding Skin

"_The snake which cannot cast its own skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind._" – **Friedrich Nietzsche**

* * *

The word "daddy" resonated in Daniel's head and his eyes horrifically widened as Emily swam between the ocean of people and distanced herself from her husband. Beside him, his mother battled the itch in her throat, "Daniel…"

"Not now, mom, okay?" Daniel brushed off her concern and chased the blonde curls ahead. He swept the awkward face of Ashley's from his head and followed Emily into the humbly-styled accommodation section of the yacht. Inside and away from the eyes of their peers, Daniel shut the door and started, "Emily, let me explain."

"Daniel, I don't need an explanation; I'm not five years old and I am not an idiot." She barked, her eyes ablaze at him.

"I know you're not, but you're also confused." Daniel assured, "Edward isn't my son, he's my brother or half-brother if we need to be technical." For that moment, Daniel noticed Emily had paced the room back and forth but, with his words, she froze on the spot. Those eyes looked oh-so-hopeful for his version of events but Daniel could sense the doubt. "My dad hired Ashley after my mom fired her but the position didn't come without personal favours to him." His voice lowered, most likely in resentment, when he said that. "To his credit, he's made certain that Ashley and Edward have never been without. Even from behind bars, he has a certain presence at Global," Daniel remarked, under his breath.

"Daniel…" Emily had one of those rare moments of speechlessness. A hurricane of relief washed upon her and she broke into her faithful smile at him, "I'm so sorry, sorry I ever doubted you…"

"Wait, that's not it. There's more," Daniel confessed.

"Go on…" she requested.

"Edward may not have been mine but Ashley and I did sleep with one another and I did keep it from you." Daniel bowed his head with his admission, "Then Charlotte died, the call about my mom… you accepted me back and when Ashley saw how much I loved you, and discovered she had fallen pregnant, she decided to head back to London. Apart from the odd trip her for work purposes, she's remained there and it's Edward's home."

His wife could barely look him in the eye, "And you've never told me any of this, why?"

Daniel's shoulders slumped, "For the same reason you never told me who you really were." Their eyes met and Daniel's narrowed to match the sombre mood, "I didn't think you could love me, if you knew the truth." He exhaled, "It's the same reason we connected so deeply and why we both fell so hard for one another even when we didn't want to; all our lives, we've been led to believe we're not enough or we could have done more. Expectations have worn me down, a childhood in foster care broke your heart, never mind what it did to your self-worth."

Emily hardened herself to the conversation, "Is this supposed to be one of those heart to hearts where I wave off the lies you've told me just because of the secret I kept from you? Are we supposed to head back to normal now?"

"We've both made mistakes, we've both kept secrets and we both had a reason; trust. It's the one issue we've both had our entire lives and even as adults, it still affects out decisions and relationships." Daniel looked honest, "When you don't feel important as a person to yourself, how could you be important to someone else?"

She scoffed, "Do you know how juvenile you sound, Daniel?"

He nodded, "It may be juvenile but it's the truth. You're still that little nine year old Amanda Clarke who wonders why she could never save her father and I'm still Daniel Grayson, the boy who wanted to become a poet. Those dreams still live inside of us, except maybe it's time to move on and realise that we'll never be those people. We're different. We're Daniel and Emily Grayson; you love me and I love you, even my mother roots for us," he humorously added.

"Well, when you have Victoria Grayson on your side then maybe you really are blessed." The sarcasm in her voice matched the small smile on her lips and she moved forward into Daniel's embrace, "What I love most about you is how well you know me and just because I've been Amanda Clarke all these years, doesn't cancel that out." Her fingers traced his upper-arm and she softly exhaled at his soft skin, "When I saw you, November 19 2003, you were just a pawn in the scheme to take down the Grayson kingdom but twenty years and four children later, you're the one I've spent my life with and the only one I could picture my future with." A relaxed smile settled on Daniel's lips and Emily ran her hair over his brown curls before she stepped backwards from his embrace, "But you were right; we need… _I_ need," she paused, "To move on. There's something I should have known long before now to be able to put the past where it should have been." Without a more detailed explanation, Emily strolled back onto the deck of the yacht and Daniel followed behind.

While his wife took to the microphone, Daniel found himself pulled aside by Victoria, Charlotte and Sophia. His raven haired children looked at him with anticipation, "Why's mom up there and what happened between you two?"

Daniel folded his arms, "I don't know and…" his eyes followed Emily, "It's complicated."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, if I could have your attention?" Emily's voice came over the speakers and she politely smiled, "I would first like to thank you all for your attendance, your annual support continues to overwhelm myself and the charities we support." Her lips twitched in a natural flicker as she looked toward Daniel, "As I'm sure you're all aware, there has been a whirl of controversy around myself and my family and I would like to take this opportunity to personally confirm the reports; I am indeed _the_ Amanda Clarke." Hushed whispers of discussion started as the press started to pay more attention and Emily inwardly rolled her eyes at the reaction, "In light of this recent revelation, on behalf of my family and the committee behind me, I would like to announce the creation of a new charity which will also benefit from this afternoon's event; the David Clarke foundation. It funds and supports children taken into foster care and follows them after their release from an institution. My husband has honourably donated $100,000 as a starter fund to the charity and I appeal to all of you here today to follow his lead if not match it," she teased, as she crowd chuckled graciously along with her remark. "I would also like your to raise your glass to my mother-in-law, Victoria Grayson, who is the brains behind the entire charity and who I am more than happy to publicly reconcile into our family. To Victoria Grayson…"

After an applause from the crowd, Emily stepped down and made her way to Daniel, Victoria and their children. Before anyone could comment, Nolan made a suave approach, "Well, well, well… what a lovely speech," he smirked.

Victoria narrowed her eyes; as flattered as she was, her suspicion remained intact, "Indeed."

Her eyebrow rose and Charlotte looked hopeful, "Yeah, mom." She couldn't help but note her father's arm slip around her waist and her mother didn't even recoil at his touch. In their social circles such a façade wouldn't have been a surprise but her mother's attempt at a public reconciliation appeared real. "Does this mean you and dad…?"

"It does," Emily confirmed.

"So you'll come back home?" Sophia checked, her eyes widened.

"It'll be like I never left," her mother assured.

Daniel reached for a flute of Champagne for himself and nodded, "I'm sure your mother's speech has dispelled the media from anymore hurtful reports for the family name and Global. Perhaps, _this_ could mark the start of a calm and peaceful summer here in the Hampton's," Daniel's voice lifted at the idealistic future months ahead. Sometimes, he dreamt of his childhood summers; life seemed much easier when your summer consisted of trips to the beach.

"I wouldn't be too comfortable too soon," Victoria warned her son. "I take it, neither of you have anymore past indiscretions that could perhaps harm the family?"

"Well, I can't speak for Daniel, but I'm sure I didn't imprison an innocent man with a nine year old child all matured and ready to bite me in the ass for it." Emily remarked, as her tone made it difficult to decipher the intent of her response.

Each member of the family bowed their head in an awkward fashion and Nolan leaned in, "Maybe it's a little too soon to crack the jokes in public," he reprimanded, his voice muttered as he grimaced, "Just an idea." Emily rolled her eyes with a smile and Nolan raised his flute to the level of his eyes, "Well, not that I could dare to follow such a lovely speech Emily just made but I would like to make a private toast… to all of you," he announced. "It's been a hectic few months," Nolan scoffed and muttered, "A hectic two decades, even. But I wouldn't have missed it for the earth. I'm honoured to be considered part of the extended family and to have had the pleasure to watch you battle past family drama that even I doubted you would be able to push aside as individuals, let alone as Grayson's." His smirk slid from his face and he looked at Emily to Daniel to Victoria, Charlotte and Sophia, "On a serious level, I'm _proud_ of every one of you and you should all be of one another and yourselves. The Grayson name has become somewhat unbeatable, not for reasons of wealth or status, but because your love for one another is unconditional. To the Grayson's," Nolan concluded.

Their flutes clinked and Emily winked at Daniel, "To the Grayson's, and their next chapter…"

**The End.**

**A/N: **Here's another one of those I-don't-write-often author's notes, haha! So it's a Daniel/Emily fic so I did assume all of you wanted to see a happy ending? Let me say a massive "THANK YOU" to everyone who has reviewed, favourited and followed this fic, even to the lurkers! If you haven't reviewed before but have followed this fic, it would be lovely to hear your comments now that the story has come to a conclusion. And, to everyone reading this, have a very merry christmas and a happy new year! (do try to celebrate while Revenge is on hiatus!*sobs*)

**Ps; HAPPY BIRTHDAY Lori23**, I hope you have a lovely day!


End file.
